SINGAPORE (CNA) – Eight men have been arrested for their suspected involvement in two separate series of “Ponzi-like job scams”, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said yesterday.
The arrests were made during the police’s anti-scam enforcement operations.
Five men aged between 18 and 26 were arrested during an operation conducted between March 8 and March 18, while the other three, aged between 26 and 30, were nabbed during an operation that was carried out on March 17 and March 18, SPF said in a news release.
Investigations into both series of scams are ongoing.
The five men arrested in the first enforcement operation are suspected of being involved in perpetrating Ponzi-like job scams involving an e-commerce affiliate business (EAB).
Another two men and seven women, aged between 18 and 72, are also being investigated for their suspected involvement in the job scams.
The police received several reports between December 2021 and March 2022 about victims receiving unsolicited WhatsApp messages and Facebook or Telegram posts with advertisements promoting highly paid part-time affiliate marketing related jobs.
The scammers would offer fake online jobs that required the victims to complete easy tasks such as making online purchases, the police said.
In order to perform more job tasks and earn their commission, the victims were directed to recruit more members to upgrade their membership status.
“In most cases, the victims would be convinced that it was a legitimate job as they would receive commissions and profit during the early stage of their memberships,” said the police.
“Victims would realise that they had been scammed when they did not receive further commissions or were unable to make withdrawals from their member accounts.”
