Six people will be charged with allowing criminals to use bank accounts

On Monday (November 4), six people will appear in court on charges of surrendering bank accounts that were used by a crime syndicate to facilitate the movement of large amounts of money.

In a statement on Sunday, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said the six were three men and three women, but did not provide details of their ages or nationalities.

All six opened new bank accounts and provided their details to the crime syndicate in exchange for a monthly fee. Between September 2022 and May 2023, almost A$8 million was transferred to the accounts.

They will be charged with, among others, complicity in fraud, inciting unauthorized access to computer materials, helping another person obtain benefits from criminal conduct and registering a shell company.

Four of these people allegedly assisted in money laundering and will face additional charges for transferring the proceeds of criminal conduct.

One of them acted as a recruiter, including the other three in the scheme, and provided false information to the investigating officer.

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Six suspects were charged in connection with a series of banking-related crimes. In June 2023, eight people were arrested for their involvement in banking-related crimes reported in Singapore between May and June 2023.

In this case, SPF received reports of malware being used to hack mobile devices, resulting in unauthorized transactions from bank accounts, even though victims did not disclose their one-time passwords.

On November 4, one of them will appear in court with additional charges. He served as a “middle manager” in the syndicate, recruiting members and instructing others to recruit more people to give up their bank accounts.

He allegedly passed on the crime syndicate’s instructions to other members of the organized crime group to make cash withdrawals or fund transfers to facilitate money laundering.

The penalty for conspiring to defraud a bank into opening a bank account is imprisonment for up to three years, a fine, or both. Inciting unknown persons to gain access to a bank’s computer system is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or imprisonment for up to two years, or both, for a first-time offender.

Transferring the proceeds of criminal conduct – which includes helping others retain the proceeds of criminal conduct through conversion or transfer – is punishable by a fine of up to A$500,000 or imprisonment of up to 10 years, or both.

The penalty for acting as a member of a locally affiliated organized crime group is a fine of up to A$100,000 and imprisonment for up to five years, or both.