In a significant move aimed at supporting its citizens, the Singaporean government has introduced a comprehensive Cost-of-Living (COL) support package, which is set to benefit approximately 2.5 million adult Singaporeans.

This one-off cash payout of up to $200, totalling S$1.1 billion, is scheduled to roll out in December 2023.

Additionally, all Singaporean households will receive S$200 in Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers, allowing them to make purchases at participating heartland merchants, hawkers, and supermarkets.

This is on top of the cash payout of up to $600 which is part of the existing Assurance Package (AP) cash payout.

Understanding the COL Package

The COL package, recently unveiled by Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on September 28, 2023, is designed to address the pressing issue of inflation that affects the everyday lives of Singaporeans. It includes a multi-pronged approach to alleviate financial stress and provide much-needed relief.

Enhancements to Assurance Package
Assurance Package (AP) Cash Special Payment	· Additional payment of up to $200 cash for 2.5 million eligible adult Singaporeans · This one-off special payment will be disbursed in December 2023, together with the existing AP Cash component. · In total, eligible adult Singaporeans will receive up to $800 cash in December 2023. · This will provide more support to lower- and middle-income adult Singaporeans.
CDC Vouchers	· Additional $200 of CDC Vouchers for every Singaporean household in 2024. This will bring the total amount of CDC Vouchers to $500 for every Singaporean household in 2024 · The additional CDC vouchers will be allocated equally: $100 for spending at participating heartland merchants and hawkers, and $100 for spending at participating supermarkets. · The 2024 CDC Vouchers should be claimed digitally at go.gov.sg/cdcv from 3 January 2024 onwards. The vouchers can be claimed any time during their validity period. Those requiring further assistance can approach their nearest Community Centre/Club (CC). · The vouchers will expire in end-2024.
Additional Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) Rebate	· Additional one-off 0.5-month of S&CC rebate for 950,000 Singaporean HDB households · This will be disbursed in January 2024, together with the regular S&CC rebates. · This will, on average, fully offset the S&CC increase in the first year of increases for 1- to 4-room HDB flats and about 85% for larger HDB flats.
Additional U-Save Rebates to cushion impact of increases in carbon tax and water price	· Additional $20 per quarter of U-Save rebates from January 2024 to December 2025, or a total of $80 per year for 2 years, for 950,000 Singaporean HDB households · These rebates will be disbursed together with the regular U-Save rebates and will cushion the impact of the increases in carbon tax and water price in 2024 and 2025. · Over 2024–2025, the additional U-Save rebates will, on average, fully offset the increase in utility bills for 1- to 2-room HDB flats, about 80% of the increase in utility bills for 3- to 4-room HDB flats, and about 65% of the increase in utility bills for larger flats.

Seven persons, aged 17 to 46, will be charged in court on 27 September 2023 for their suspected involvement in money laundering activities linked to banking-related phishing scam cases involving malware, which resulted in losses from victims’ bank accounts.

Between 3 June 2023 and 24 August 2023, the Police received several reports informing that malware was used to compromise Android mobile devices, resulting in unauthorised transactions made from the victims’ bank accounts, even when they had not divulged their Internet banking credentials, One-Time-Passwords (OTPs) or Singpass credentials to anyone. In these cases, the victims responded to advertisements (e.g. on cleaning services, pet grooming, food items such as mooncake, durian, seafood, groceries, etc.) via Whatsapp and Facebook. They were then instructed by the scammers to download Android Package Kit (or APK) from non-official app stores to facilitate the purchase, which led to malware being installed on the victims’ mobile devices.

The scammers would convince the victims via phone calls or text messages to turn on accessibility services on their Android phones and by doing so, phones’ security would be weakened, and scammers would be able to take full control of the phones. Scammers could then log every keystroke, steal banking credentials stored on the phones to remotely access the victims’ banking apps, add money mules as payees, raise payment limits and transfer monies out to money mules. The scammers could further delete SMS and email notifications of the bank transactions to cover their tracks.
Through follow up investigations, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department arrested the seven persons. Investigations revealed that the seven persons are suspected to be involved in the following cases of money laundering. The cases are:

1. In March 2023, a 26-year-old man responded to an online advertisement on Telegram which offered him fast cash, and later agreed to disclose his three Internet banking credentials to an unknown person who had offered him at least $1,200 monthly in return for renting out his bank accounts. His bank accounts were subsequently used to launder proceeds of crime;
   
2. In June 2023, two teenagers, aged 17 and 18, agreed to disclose their Internet banking credentials to unknown persons after responding to an online investment scheme and fast cash opportunity separately. Their bank accounts were then used to launder criminal proceeds;
   
3. In June 2023, a 46-year-old man responded to an online job advertisement which offered him a sign-up bonus in return for using his two bank accounts. Two new bank accounts were later opened without his knowledge. His bank accounts were subsequently used to launder proceeds of crime;
   
4. In July 2023, a 21-year-old man responded to an online advertisement on Telegram which offered him fast cash, and later agreed to disclose his Internet banking credentials and personal information to an unknown person. Three other bank accounts were later opened without his knowledge. His bank accounts were then used to launder criminal proceeds;
   
5. In August 2023, a 22-year-old man responded to an online advertisement on Telegram which offered him fast cash, and later agreed to disclose his Singpass credentials to an unknown person. His Singpass credentials were subsequently misused to open a bank account which was then used to launder criminal proceeds; and
   
6. In August 2023, a 18-year-old teenager handed over his Internet banking credentials and ATM card to an unknown person who had offered him cash in return for usinghis bank account. His bank account was subsequently used to launder proceeds of crime. 

For disclosing Singpass credentials, the offence under Section 8(2)(a) of the Computer Misuse Act 1993 carries an imprisonment term not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding $10,000, or both, for a first-time offender.

For conspiring to cheat the bank into opening the bank account, the offence under Section 417 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code 1871 carries an imprisonment term not exceeding three years, a fine, or both. For abetting unknown persons to secure unauthorised access to the bank’s computer system, the offence under Section 3(1) read with Section 12 and Section 14 of the Computer Misuse Act 1993 carries a fine not exceeding $5,000, an imprisonment term not exceeding two years, or both, for a first-time offender.

The Police take a serious view of these offences and will not hesitate to take action against individuals who may be involved in scams, and perpetrators will be dealt with in accordance with the law. To avoid being an accomplice in these crimes, members of the public should always reject seemingly attractive money-making opportunities promising fast and easy pay-outs for the use of their Singpass accounts, bank accounts, or allow their personal bank accounts to be used to receive and transfer money for others. The Police would like to remind members of the public that individuals will be held accountable if they are found to be linked to such crimes.

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential.

The Police are investigating 124 persons, aged between 14 and 72, for their suspected involvement in unlicensed moneylending activities.

During a five-day anti-unlicensed moneylending operation conducted between 18 and 22 September 2023, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the seven Police land divisions conducted simultaneous raids island-wide.

Preliminary investigations revealed that 11 persons had allegedly conducted harassment at debtors’ residences, 40 persons, believed to be runners, had assisted in unlicensed moneylending businesses by carrying out Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transfers, and one person is believed to have provided false contact information leading to harassment being carried out at an innocent victim’s residence.

The remaining 72 persons 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 unlicensed moneylending businesses.

Investigations against all the persons are ongoing.

Under the Moneylenders Act 2008, when a bank account, ATM card or Internet Banking token of any person is used to facilitate moneylending by an unlicensed moneylender, that person is presumed to have assisted in carrying on the business of unlicensed moneylending.  First-time offenders found guilty of the offence 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 not less than $30,000 and not more than $300,000 and caning of not more than six strokes. First-time offenders found guilty of the offence of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender to commit or attempt to commit any acts of harassment shall be punished with imprisonment term of up to five years, a fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $50,000, and caning of not less than three and not more than six strokes.

Any person found guilty of the offence of providing false contact information to obtain loans from unlicensed moneylenders shall be punished with imprisonment term of up to 12 months. Under the National Registration Act, any person who is guilty of an offence of failing to report a change of address within 28 days shall be punished with a fine of not more than $5,000, or to imprisonment term of up to five years, or to both.

The Police will continue to take tough enforcement action against those involved in the unlicensed moneylending business, regardless of their roles, and ensure that they face the full brunt of the law. This includes taking action against those who open or give away their bank accounts to aid unlicensed moneylenders.

Unlicensed moneylenders are increasingly using text messaging or online platforms to send unsolicited loan advertisements. Members of the public are reminded not to reply or respond to such advertisements and to report these messages as spam. Members of the public are also advised to stay away from unlicensed moneylenders and not to work with or assist them in any way. The public can call the Police at ‘999’ or the X-Ah Long hotline at 1800-924-5664 if they suspect or know of anyone who could be involved in unlicensed moneylending activities.

34-year-old Phua Kai Liang, a former Maybank Singapore service manager, misappropriated more than $1.4 million in total from his workplace safe over a span of 15 occasions from March 23 to June 10, 2021, according to The Straits Times.

He pleaded guilty to charges that included criminal breach of trust, and he was sentenced on 27 September to three years and 10 months of imprisonment.

He is currently out on a bail of $30,000 and is required to surrender himself on 30 October to the State Courts to begin his jail sentence.

A Desperate Gamble

Phua, who held the position of a service manager at a Maybank branch located in Choa Chu Kang Avenue 4, was responsible for counting the cash in the safe and managing its security alarm, including arming and disarming it.

In early 2021, he suffered heavy losses from trading in the foreign exchange market which left him unable to repay his mounting credit card debts.

Desperation pushed him to borrow money from friends, family, and licensed moneylenders in an attempt to alleviate his financial woes.

In a bid to recoup his losses and repay his debts, Phua resorted to gambling at a casino. This decision only compounded his problems, as he continued to lose money. With no other viable options, he made a fateful decision in March 2021.

The Perfect Crime

Phua was well aware of the bank’s internal workings, including the whereabouts of the safe key and the combination password.

The key was stored in an unlocked desk drawer, shared by him and the bank’s cash officers. To execute his plan, Phua would discreetly disarm the security alarm of the safe and, when the coast was clear, open it using the key and password.

He would then help himself to the contents of the safe, carefully rearming the security alarm before leaving the bank.

He would then convert the money into casino chips or deposit it into his POSB bank account for his personal expenses as well as to use it for forex trading.

He had used more than $1.3 million of the stolen money to convert into casino chips, returning part of his winnings from gambling back to the safe and keeping the remaining amount for himself.

Phua’s meticulous approach was designed to avoid detection. He ensured that the cash he took was returned to the safe before the start of the next business day, meticulously maintaining the cash records to avoid suspicion.

The Unraveling

However, Phua’s luck eventually ran out on June 11, 2021. On this ill-fated day, he took a staggering $404,000 from the safe and lost the entire sum at the Marina Bay Sands casino. Facing the harsh reality of his actions, he turned to his fiancée for guidance.

In a bid to make amends, Phua confessed to his wrongdoing and received $404,000 in cash from his fiancée to put back inside the safe.

He then confessed to his crimes to the bank’s branch manager after asking one of the cash officers to help him replace the amount.

Following his conviction, Phua has since made full restitution to Maybank. He is also no longer an employee of the bank and is currently working for another company.