The Police have arrested two men, aged 32 and 33, for their suspected involvement in a case of currency exchange scam.
On 16 January 2024, the Police received a report from a victim allegedly involved in a currency exchange scam. The victim had responded to an online request from one of the men, seeking his service to exchange Singapore (SGD) currency to Chinese (RMB) currency. He then met up and transferred SGD$8,900/- worth of Chinese currency, amounting to RMB$49,840/- into an overseas bank account belonging to one of the men. After he transferred the money, both the men fled without exchanging any Chinese currency.
Through extensive enquiries and with the aid of CCTV footage, officers from Woodlands Police Division established the men’s identity and arrested them within two hours. The duo had perpetrated the scheme to cheat the victim. Police managed to recover SGD$4570/- from the defrauded amount, whereas the other monies had been dissipated to overseas bank accounts.
The men will be charged in court on 18 January 2024 for the offence of abetment by conspiracy to cheat under Section 420 r/w Section 109 of the Penal Code 1871. The offence carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine.