The Police are investigating 166 persons, aged between 15 and 69, for their suspected involvement in unlicensed money lending activities.
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Two-week anti-unlicensed moneylending operation
The operation was conducted between 12 and 25 July 2021, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the seven Police land divisions conducted simultaneous raids island-wide.
Preliminary investigation revealed that:
- 15 suspects are believed to have conducted harassment at debtors’ residences
- 28 suspects are believed to be runners who had assisted unlicensed moneylenders in their businesses by carrying out Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transfers
- one suspect is believed to have provided false contact information leading to harassment being carried out against an innocent victim’s residence
- one suspect is believed to have operated an unlicensed moneylending business issuing loans to several borrowers in Singapore.
The remaining 121 suspects are believed to have opened bank accounts and provided their ATM cards, Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) and/or Internet banking tokens to unlicensed moneylenders to facilitate their businesses.
Under the Moneylenders’ Act (Revised Edition 2010):
- First-time offenders found guilty of carrying on or assisting in a business of unlicensed moneylending shall be punished with imprisonment term of up to four years, a fine of between $30,000 and $300,000, and caning of up to six strokes; and
- First-time offenders found guilty of committing or attempting to commit any acts of harassment on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender shall be punished with imprisonment term of up to five years, a fine of between $5,000 and $50,000, and caning of between three and six strokes.