Woman, 25, arrested after 77-year-old scam victim deposits $250,000 into her DBS account

A 25-year-old woman who allegedly sold her Singpass login details and bank accounts for $600 was arrested by the Commercial Affairs Department.

The Anti-Scam Center worked with the Singpass Anti-Fraud Team and DBS Bank to foil a scam, leading to the recovery of $250,000.

The case began in October when a 77-year-old woman received a call from someone claiming to be “staff” of Standard Chartered Bank.

She was told that a credit card had been issued in her name and that several unauthorized transactions had been made on the card.

The woman was then referred to an ‘official’ from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for assistance.

After speaking to the ‘agent’ over the phone, the woman was told that her credit card’s magnetic stripe had been compromised and she was asked to reveal her personal details, including her bank account balance and online banking login details, in order to to solve problem.

After instructions from the “officer” to withdraw money and deposit it into a DBS bank account for “further investigation”, she made a check for $250,000 into the DBS bank account, as well as other deposits into other bank accounts worth $40,000 .

As the DBS bank account was flagged as a suspicious account due to anti-scam measures, the $250,000 deposit was immediately discovered by the DBS Anti-Mule Team.

The team quickly worked with the Singapore Police Force’s Anti-Scam Center to track and intercept the money. At the same time, agents from the center engaged the woman and successfully convinced her of the scam.

Her $250,000 was recovered.

Investigations later revealed that the DBS bank account belonged to the 25-year-old woman who allegedly sold her Singpass login details and bank accounts for $600.

These credentials were used by criminals to open new bank accounts, facilitating the laundering of illegal proceeds from fraud.

She was subsequently arrested.

The crime of assisting another to maintain the benefits of criminal conduct is punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine, or both.

The offense of facilitating unauthorized access to computer material carries a prison sentence of up to two years, a fine, or both, for a first conviction.

The offense of unlawfully disclosing a password or access code in connection with the national digital identity service is punishable by a prison sentence of up to three years, a fine or both.

Investigations are underway.