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A 31-year-old woman who handed over her bank account to a loan shark to settle a S$1,000 debt ended up becoming a tool for a scam syndicate to launder more than S$2 million. She has been sentenced to three years and six months’ jail and fined S$30,000.
She faced 15 charges, including cheating, computer misuse offences, offences under the Moneylenders Act and drug-related offences. She pleaded guilty to six charges, with the remaining taken into consideration for sentencing.
Court documents stated that in August 2021, she borrowed S$1,000 from an unidentified loan shark. She initially managed to repay part of the amount but later could not continue payments. In September that year, she agreed to hand over one of her bank accounts as a way to settle the debt.
She applied for an ATM card and activated online banking services for the account. Following instructions, she left the ATM card and a piece of paper with her online banking login details on a chair next to a vending machine near her home for collection. She also provided a screenshot of her Singpass QR code to allow the other party to log in using her digital identity.
On Sept 25, 2021, worried that she might get into trouble, she went to the bank to close the account.
However, investigations later found that on Sept 27, 2021, an unknown person used her personal particulars to open a separate bank account. Between Sept 27 and Oct 21, about S$2,021,089 flowed into this account, with almost all of it subsequently transferred out. Of this amount, S$2,263 was confirmed to be scam proceeds from four victims of job scams, with the remaining funds suspected to be criminal proceeds.
The case also revealed that she repeated this pattern in 2023. In June that year, she contacted a stranger on Telegram while looking for “job opportunities”. On June 27, she opened three bank accounts and handed over the online banking login details to the person she had been communicating with.
Investigations showed that these accounts were again used by criminals as money laundering channels to receive and move illicit funds.
She was arrested on July 14, 2023 and later charged in court. On Wednesday (July 8), she was sentenced in the State Courts to three years and six months’ imprisonment and fined S$30,000. The fine will be paid into the Government’s Consolidated Fund. As she is unable to pay, she will serve an additional 25 days in jail in default.
Separately, the court heard that she had a history of drug abuse. She was jailed for a year on March 10, 2022 for consuming methamphetamine. After her release, she later consumed so-called “zombie” vape products and was arrested again. To avoid mandatory urine tests, she forged 20 medical certificates, falsely claiming she was unwell and could not report for testing.
