MAN ARRESTED FOR A SERIES OF E-COMMERCE SCAMS

The Police have arrested a 27-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a series of e-commerce scams involving the sale of “Pokemon” cards.

Between 29 June 2023 and 3 July 2023, the Police received two reports from victims who were purportedly cheated by an online seller, who allegedly advertised a pre-order sale of “Pokemon” cards on Carousell. After receiving a sum of about $37,600 via money transfer, the man did not fulfil the delivery of the “Pokemon” cards.

Through follow-up investigations, officers from Woodlands Police Division established the identity of the 27-year-old man and arrested him on 4 July 2023. Preliminary investigations revealed that the man is believed to be involved in at least 10 other similar cases involving losses of about $80,000. Watches, shoes and clothes worth about $20,000 bought by the man using the defrauded monies from various victims were seized as case exhibits.

The man will be charged in court on 6 July 2023 with cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code 1871. The offence carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine.

The Police would like to advise members of the public to take the following precautions when engaging online services:

1. If the price is too good to be true, it probably is. Only engage service providers from reputable sources.
2. Whenever possible, avoid making advance payments or direct bank transfers to the service providers.
3. Scammers may entice buyers to make deposits before the services are provided, and they may also use a local bank account or provide a copy of a NRIC/driver’s licence to make you believe that they are genuine sellers. Do not fall for it!

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information related to such scams may call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.

Annex

Case Exhibits ▼

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
05 July 2023 @ 11:15 PM

Similar offences

The Police have arrested a 28-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a series of e-commerce scams involving the sale of “Pokemon” cards.

Between 20 and 24 June 2023, the Police received several reports from victims who were purportedly cheated by an online seller, who had allegedly advertised the sale of “Pokemon” cards on Carousell. The man allegedly received deposits from the victims via PayNow and became uncontactable.

Through follow up investigations, officers from Ang Mo Kio Division established the identity of the man and arrested him on 26 June 2023. Preliminary investigations revealed that the man is believed to be involved in at least eight similar cases with losses amounting to more than S$9,000.

The man will be charged in court on 27 June 2023 with cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code 1871. The offence of cheating carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine.

MAN ARRESTED FOR LOANSHARK HARASSMENT

The Police have arrested a 24-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a case of loanshark harassment.

On 2 July 2023, at about 11.50pm, the Police were alerted to a case of loanshark harassment at a residential unit along Bendemeer Road, where the front gate and door were splashed with red paint, and a debtor’s note was left on the wall.

Through follow-up investigations and with the aid of images from Police cameras, officers from Central Police Division established the identity of the man and arrested him on 4 July 2023 along Jurong West Street 73.

The man will be charged in court on 6 July 2023 under the Moneylenders Act 2008. For first time offenders, the offence of loanshark harassment carries a fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $50,000, with an imprisonment term of up to five years, and caning of up to six strokes.

The Police have zero tolerance against loanshark harassment activities. Those who deliberately vandalise properties, cause annoyance and disruption to public safety, peace and security, will be dealt with severely in accordance with the law.

Members of the public are advised to stay away from loansharks and not to work with or assist them in any way. Members of 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 loansharking activities.

Annex ▼

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
05 July 2023 @ 8:10 PM

Similar offences

Earlier this month, the Singapore Police Force arrested a 39-year-old man for allegedly being involved in a case of loanshark harassment at a unit in Lengkong Tiga.

Singapore Police’s press release

MAN ARRESTED FOR LOANSHARK HARASSMENT

The Police have arrested a 39-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a case of loanshark harassment.

On 28 June 2023, the Police were alerted to a case of loanshark harassment at a residential unit along Lengkong Tiga, where the front gate and door were splashed with yellow paint, and a debtor’s note was left on the wall.

Through follow-up investigations and with the aid of images from Police cameras, officers from Bedok Police Division established the identity of the man and arrested him on the same day. Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had allegedly been involved in other similar cases of loanshark harassments. One can of yellow paint and debtor’s notes were seized as case exhibits.

The man will be charged in court on 30 June 2023 under the Moneylenders Act 2008. For first time offenders, the offence of loanshark harassment carries a fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $50,000, with mandatory imprisonment of up to five years, and mandatory caning of up to six strokes.

MAN ARRESTED FOR VOLUNTARILY CAUSING HURT WITH DANGEROUS WEAPON WITHIN 2 HOURS

The Police have arrested a 46-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a case of voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapon.

On 4 July 2023 at 7.14pm, the Police were alerted to a case of assault along Chin Swee Road, where a 60-year-old man was allegedly assaulted by another man. After the attack, the man fled from the scene. The victim was found with multiple injuries and was believed to have been injured with a knife. The victim was conveyed conscious to the hospital.

Through ground enquiries and with the aid of images from Police cameras, officers from Central Police Division established the identity of the 46-year-old man and arrested him within two hours of the report. Preliminary investigations revealed that both men were known to each other.

The 46-year-old man will be charged in court on 6 July 2023 with voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapon under Section 324 of the Penal Code 1871 which carries an imprisonment term of up to seven years, a fine, caning, or with any combination of such punishments.

The Police take a zero-tolerance approach towards such acts of violence and will not hesitate to take action against those who blatantly disregard the law.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
05 July 2023 @ 8:30 PM

Similar incidents

A 16-year-old teenager from Singapore was charged in court on June 10 as he faced charges of criminal intimidation. The charges against him is that he wielded a knife and directed it at his intended victim, with the aim of causing harm.

According to reports, the incident took place on June 9 at approximately 10:30 pm, at Block 427 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3.

Based on official court documents, the teenager is presently in custody at the Changi Prison Complex Medical Centre, where he is undergoing a medical examination.

Witnesses observed the teenager attempting to evade the police prior to his arrest, as he sprinted through the streets of Ang Mo Kio while fleeing from the police officers.

A TikTok video captured by a bystander shows the incident, depicting the teenager dressed in black, moving backwards on the road while being surrounded by at least seven to eight police officers.

At a certain point, the teenager halted and engaged in a conversation with some of the officers. He appeared agitated, frequently gesturing and pointing his fingers at them.

This sudden interruption caused traffic congestion on the road, with several vehicles, including buses, unable to proceed.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the road, a police officer was seen directing the flow of traffic.

When additional officers and a police vehicle arrived at the scene, the teenager abruptly resumed running on the road, even going against the traffic despite the traffic light being green.

Video footage shows the police officers chasing after the teenager as he attempted to escape by jumping over a fence.

Eventually, law enforcement successfully apprehended the teenager.

In a TikTok video capturing the scene, voices can be heard raised when the teenager was being placed inside the police vehicle.

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On May 5, 2023, customers of DBS Bank faced a major disruption to the bank’s digital banking services that lasted for more than six hours. Preliminary investigations revealed that the disruption was caused by human error in coding the program used for system maintenance.

Human Error

According to Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in his written answer to a parliamentary question, the disruption to DBS’ digital banking services on May 5, 2023, was attributed to human error in coding the program responsible for system maintenance.

This error resulted in a significant reduction in system capacity, leading to difficulties in processing internet and mobile banking, electronic payment, and ATM transactions.

DBS initially described the disruption as a “systems issue” unrelated to a previous disruption in March.

MAS Takes Action: Strengthening Resilience

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) expressed its dissatisfaction with the second disruption within a two-month period. MAS emphasized the importance of delivering reliable services to customers and required retail banks to ensure the resilience of their mission-critical systems supporting digital banking.

In response to the May 5 disruption, MAS imposed an additional capital requirement on DBS, effective from May 6. This requirement aims to ensure that banks can recover quickly from system disruptions and continue serving their customers without significant interruptions.

Following the March disruption, DBS established a special committee to conduct a root cause investigation and review the bank’s IT resilience comprehensively.

However, after the May 5 incident, MAS mandated the committee to extend its review to cover the May disruption as well. Additionally, qualified independent third parties were engaged to assist in the review process.

Once the review is completed, DBS is expected to provide the public with more details regarding the disruptions and the measures taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Recap

DBS bank users across Singapore faced problems accessing the bank’s online banking services on 5 May before the service was resumed hours later, it was the latest service disruption since the outage on 29 March.

Following the latest service disruption, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has increased the penalty on the bank that was imposed for a previous disruption, and ordered for a further review on the latest incident.

In a statement released by the MAS, they described the incident as falling short of their expectations for banks and said that it was unacceptable.

MAS’ statement

MAS Imposes Further Additional Capital Requirement on DBS Bank for Disruption of Banking Services

Singapore, 5 May 2023… 

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed on DBS Bank Ltd (DBS Bank) an additional capital requirement, following the widespread unavailability of DBS Bank’s digital banking services on 29 March 2023 and a subsequent disruption to its digital banking and ATM services on 5 May 2023. Together with the additional capital requirement imposed on DBS in February 2022 , this translates to approximately S$1.6 billion in total additional regulatory capital.

2. The additional capital requirement on DBS Bank is now a multiplier of 1.8 times to its risk weighted assets for operational risk, an increase from the multiplier of 1.5 times that MAS applied in February 2022 following the November 2021 disruption. MAS may subsequently vary the size of the multiplier depending on the outcome of ongoing reviews.
3. After the March incident, DBS Bank had convened a Special Board Committee to oversee a full review of the bank’s IT resiliency, to be performed by an independent external expert. MAS had then directed DBS Bank to conduct a comprehensive review, including an assessment of the adequacy of management oversight, staff competencies, operational processes, system resiliency, and architecture design for its digital banking services. Although the causes of the March and May incidents appear distinct from each other, MAS has now required the review to cover the May incident as well.
4. MAS has also required DBS Bank to take immediate steps to improve the resiliency and recoverability of its existing system, including enhanced monitoring, more comprehensive testing and additional system redundancies, in order to minimise disruption of its services to its customers.   
5. Ms Ho Hern Shin, Deputy Managing Director (Financial Supervision), MAS, said, “DBS Bank has fallen short of MAS’ expectations for banks to deliver reliable services to their customers.  The repeated inconvenience caused to the public is unacceptable.  The additional capital requirement imposed at this time underscores the seriousness with which MAS treats this matter. DBS Bank must spare no effort in dealing with the underlying issues leading to these disruptions.”

A massive fire broke out at an industrial building in Tuas, Singapore, causing extensive damage to chemical materials and disrupting the surrounding area. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) swiftly responded to the blaze, mobilizing a significant firefighting operation to bring the flames under control.

$10 million worth of chemicals lost

The fire resulted in extensive damage to chemical materials stored within the industrial building. Megachem estimated that approximately $10 million worth of chemicals were lost in the blaze.

The volatile nature of the stored substances posed additional challenges for the firefighters, requiring specialized tactics and equipment to combat the fire effectively.

Fortunately, there were no workers present at the site when the fire broke out. Megachem’s group managing director, Sidney Chew, confirmed that all employees were safe. The SCDF swiftly advised the public to avoid the immediate vicinity of the fire for their safety and to facilitate firefighting operations.

The fire has dealt a severe blow to Megachem, with the estimated loss of $10 million worth of chemicals. Furthermore, the company’s long-standing building, in use since 1994, will require complete reconstruction due to structural damage caused by the fire.

While the loss is significant, Megachem expressed relief that the building was insured, which will assist in the recovery process.

Investigation and Cause of the Fire

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation. The initial report was made by a security guard on duty, prompting authorities to delve deeper into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Due to the severity of the fire, train services between Tuas Link and Tuas West Road stations on the East-West MRT line were temporarily suspended for nearly two hours.

The disruptions were necessary to ensure the safety of commuters and to facilitate the firefighting efforts. Train services resumed at around 7:20 a.m., allowing normal operations to resume.