DPP Chua said that Khairuddin and his accomplices were part of a money-laundering operation. — Image by Racool_studio on Freepik
SINGAPORE: A man linked to phishing scams involving OCBC Bank’s customers has admitted that he was part of a group that helped overseas syndicates obtain bank accounts used to receive some S$600,000 (RM1.98mil) in ill-gotten gains.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jason Chua said that Muhammad Khairuddin Eskandariah and his accomplices were part of a money-laundering operation.
On Thursday, Khairuddin, 20, pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including one under the Organised Crime Act.
Others linked to the scams, including Mark Teo Sin Yan, 32, and Leong Jun Xian, then 21, were dealt with in court earlier.
The prosecutor added: “While the accused was not the most senior member of the group, he played a key role in (its) activities by assisting... to change the login credentials of the bank accounts, and test to see whether the accounts were working by transferring small amounts of monies between bank accounts.”
Khairuddin, who was paid about S$1,200 (RM3,961) for his contribution, also gave control of five bank accounts to another person, despite knowing that they would be used for illegal activities.
The cases involving several others from the same group, including another 20-year-old man, are still pending. He cannot be named as he was below 18 when he allegedly committed some of his offences.
DPPs Chua and Ronnie Ang stated in court documents that between Dec 8, 2021, and Jan 19, 2022, the police received 768 reports from OCBC account holders who had fallen prey to phishing scams perpetrated by unknown scammers.
The prosecutors added: “The victims in these reports informed that their bank accounts had been compromised and funds were thereafter transferred out of their accounts without authorisation. The combined total loss suffered by these victims is estimated to be about S$12.8mil (RM42.24mil).”
Investigations revealed that Khairuddin and others in the group had worked together to provide money-laundering services to various unknown people, believed to be linked to overseas syndicates, by sourcing and providing control of bank accounts to them.
Some of these accounts were later used to receive funds from the scams involving OCBC customers. Other bank accounts were used to handle funds from victims of other scams.
The DPPs said that the group received instructions from the unknown people in multiple chat groups on messaging platform Telegram. The group also used Telegram to communicate with one another.
Khairuddin was a member of two such chat groups.
In all, the group provided at least 16 bank accounts to the syndicates in the Telegram group chats between December 2021 and February 2022.
The bank accounts received nearly S$600,000 (RM1.98mil) from different scams, including those involving OCBC customers.
OCBC said in January 2022 that it had made full goodwill payouts to all victims.
On Thursday, the court called for reports to assess Khairuddin’s suitability for probation and reformative training.
Those given reformative training will be detained in a centre to follow a strict regimen that can include foot drills and counselling.
He will be sentenced on March 27. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network
