A 53-year-old man will be charged in court on Friday (February 21) for suspected of providing bank accounts to receive stolen money and assisting scammers in converting stolen money into cryptocurrency.

The Singapore Police Force issued a statement on Thursday (20th) saying that according to preliminary investigation, the man involved was accused of providing several bank accounts controlled by him to an unknown person he knew on the Internet. These bank accounts were later used to receive money from seven victims of fraud.

Between September and October 2021, the man was suspected of converting more than 59,000 yuan of criminal proceeds into equivalent cryptocurrency Tether (USDT), and then remitted them to the electronic wallet designated by the above unknown person.

The man was also accused of operating a digital payment token service without obtaining an authority license. He is suspected of receiving seven remittances of more than 44,000 yuan through bank accounts, and then exchanged them into the equivalent cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) and deposited them into the e-wallet.

He will be charged Friday with fraud under the corruption, drug trafficking and grave crimes (forfeiture of interest) ordinance and Payment Services ordinance.

Further reading

Recruiting money for fake public security fraud group, Mule and Ma Guo youth sentenced to six years and eight months in prison

Recruiting money for fake public security fraud group, Mule and Ma Guo youth sentenced to six years and eight months in prison

A man was sentenced to 22 months in prison for cheating of more than 120,000 yuan

A man was sentenced to 22 months in prison for cheating of more than 120,000 yuan

Under Section 47 of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Serious Crimes (Forfeiture of Benefits) Act, if the assets are known to be proceeds of crime, they can be sentenced to jail for up to 10 years or fined if convicted. Up to 500,000 yuan, or both.

Under the Payment Services Act, if you are convicted of any form of remittance services, you may be sentenced to jail for up to three years, or a fine of up to $125,000, or both.

The police stressed that the authorities will crack down on the act of cleaning up criminal proceeds and severely punish violators. The public should refuse to request to receive or transfer money for others to avoid being involved in criminal activities and becoming criminals and being held accountable.

The public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the anti-fraud hotline 1799 to learn more about preventing fraud cases. The public can also call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or access the Internet at www.police.gov.sg/i-witness, and all information will be kept confidential.