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Jail for Malaysians who entered Singapore repeatedly to withdraw S$1 million in total for syndicate
The men received their assignments from a duty roster in a Telegram chat assigning people to Singapore to withdraw cash each week.
A man withdrawing Singapore dollars from a bank teller machine. (Photo: AFP)
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3 min
Lydia Lam
06 Mar 2026 04:44PM
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FAST
SINGAPORE: Two Malaysian men who repeatedly entered Singapore and withdrew about S$1 million (US$792,000) in scam proceeds between them were sentenced to jail on Friday (Mar 6).
Chang Yang, 23, was given four years and four months' jail, while Ivan Thong Yoong Khean, 27, will be imprisoned for four years.
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The pair had admitted to conspiring with each other to withdraw S$403,020 from 24 bank accounts between May 2024 and December 2024. Another two charges each were considered in sentencing.
On top of the shared sum, Chang withdrew another S$371,850 and Thong withdrew another S$255,620.
Thong had taken up a "job opportunity" from an acquaintance as he was unable to pay back a loan he had taken.
He was added to Telegram group chats, which Chang subsequently joined after owing RM100,000 (S$32,200) to a creditor.
The chats disseminated weekly duty rosters which assigned two people to enter Singapore on certain days to perform cash withdrawals.
On average, Thong and Chang were on duty two to three times a week.
On entering Singapore, they received instructions from the other chat on how much to withdraw, which ATM cards to use and the one-time passwords for each card.
They would collect the cards from lockers at *Scape mall or be handed the cards by a delivery driver.
The men would decide where to make the withdrawals from and update the chat before taking further instructions.
