ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – The Sinagporean police have arrested 41 people for various criminal offences as part of an investigation into 528 people linked to scams and loan sharking.
They are suspected to be involved in over 2,200 cases where transactions exceed SGD10 million, the Singapore Police Force said yesterday.
The suspects, aged between 14 and 72 years old, were hauled up during a 10-day enforcement operation conducted by Bedok Police Division between July 1 and 10.
Among them, 425 are suspected to be involved in e-commerce, investment, phishing, job and rental scams as well as money laundering offences, with transactions exceeding SGD10 million.
Another 103 people were probed for their alleged roles in loan scams and loan sharking activities involving over SGD120,000.
There were 46,563 scam cases reported in 2023, the highest number since the police started tracking such cases in 2016. This is 46.8 per cent higher than the 31,728 cases in 2022. Scam victims in Singapore lost SGD651.8 million in 2023.
Bedok Police Division commander Justin Wong noted that scams and unlicensed moneylending activities destroy lives. “Through their irresponsible actions, these individuals commit crime and become the conduit for illegal activity,” he said.
“Through operations like this one, we send a signal that such acts have no place in our community, and the police will do all that we can to bring these individuals to justice.”
