According to the Police media release, a woman was charged in court on Tuesday (March 1) for possessing criminal proceeds of $290,000.
Two women believed that their internet love interest was real and transferred the money to the scammer.
As it turns out, the person who received the money was a 47-year-old Noorul Ayn Abdul Shukoor. She is facing offences such as failing to maintain accounting records and possessing or using property that may be reasonably suspected of being criminal benefits
How the victims were scammed?
In December 2020, the Police received a report from a 48-year-old female victim of an Internet Love Scam (ILS). Investigations revealed that the victim befriended a male character online who claimed to have sent her a parcel. She later received several phone calls telling her that the parcel was held back by Singapore Customs and that she needed to pay certain fees for the parcel to be released. As instructed, she transferred a sum of $16,000 to a corporate bank account that belonged to the accused.
When she was asked to make more payments a few days later, the victim realised that she had been cheated and lodged a police report.
Police investigations also uncovered another 58-year-old ILS victim who had transferred $274,000 to the same bank account after falling prey to the same ruse.
Penalties:
Noorul will be back in court on March 22
If she is found guilty of possessing or using property that may be reasonably suspected of being criminal benefits she can be fined $150,000 and/or jailed for a maximum of 3 years
For failing to maintain accounting records she can face a fine of up to $5,000 or 12 months in jail.