The Singapore Police Force said in a statement yesterday that a total of 113 people between the ages of 16 to 69 are being investigated for suspected involvement in loanshark activities.
A week-long operation was conducted from 23 May to 30 may where officers from the CID and 7 police land divisions conducted raids across Singapore.
12 of the suspects had allegedly harassed debtors at their homes and 17 suspects allegedly acted as runners helping the loansharks carry out ATM transfers, according to the police’s preliminary investigations.
The other 84 suspects allegedly opened bank accounts and provided their ATM cards, personal identification numbers and/or internet banking tokens to the loansharks.
Potential penalties
Persons found guilty of carrying out or assisting unlicensed moneylenders face a jail term of up to 4 years, a fine between $30,000 to $300,000, and 3 to 6 strokes of the cane for first-time offenders.
Persons found guilty of harassing someone on behalf of unlicensed moneylenders face a jail term of up to 5 years, a fine between $5,000 to $50,000 and caned between 3 to 6 strokes.
Persons found guilty to providing false contact information to get monetary loans from loansharks face a jail term of up to 12 months.