PUBLISHED ONMarch 19, 2025 5:05 AMByLim KeweiMore than 850 people between the ages of 15 and 77 are being investigated by the Malaysia and Singapore police following a month-long anti-scam operation.
The suspects are believed to be involved in more than 2,700 such cases; mainly government official impersonation scams, investment scams, rental scams, internet love scams, friend impersonation scams and job scams and e-commerce scams.
Their victims had reportedly lost over $8.1 million, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in a statement on Wednesday (March 19).
Led by the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP), the joint operation in Malaysia was conducted between Feb 10 and March 9.
SPF's Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) and Malaysia's National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) detected and froze more than 3,400 bank accounts suspected to be linked to scams, seizing over $2 million in the blitz.
During the operation, a 34-year-old man allegedly involved in managing a group of scammers who impersonated police officers in scam cases was arrested in Malaysia on Feb 28.
In accordance with an arrest warrant issued by Singapore, he was handed over to the Singapore police and charged with the offence of criminal conspiracy to commit cheating in the State Courts on March 1.
In a separate case of an internet love scam, a 48-year-old female victim got to know a "friend" through an online dating app in December 2024.
She transferred more than $130,000 to the "friend", who was a scammer, after believing that he was facing financial difficulties before subsequently realising it was a scam.
ASCom analysed the funds trail and found that the monies had been sent to a payment service provider's account in Malaysia.
With assistance from Malaysia's NSRC, over $34,000 was successfully secured in the account.
Prior to the operation, the ASCom and the NSRC had worked together to analyse, identify and seize illicit cross-border funds movements as part of Project Frontier+, SPF said.
Established in October 2024, Frontier+ comprises representatives from anti-scam centres of Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, the Maldives, South Korea and Australia.
Its network allows for seamless information sharing, quick and synchronised response to scams and knowledge exchange to develop and improve intervention processes in each country.
Similar joint operations between Singapore and other Frontier+ member countries will be conducted to ramp up regional efforts against transnational scams, added SPF.
"As transnational scam syndicates become increasingly sophisticated in their structure and modus operandi, close co-operation between the Singapore and Malaysia authorities is crucial," said David Chew, director of SPF's Commercial Affairs Department.
"We will continue to work together to stay ahead of the criminals' tactics and with help from our law enforcement partners overseas, ensure that transnational criminals are detected and arrested wherever they may choose to operate from."
Last year, scam victims in Singapore lost $1.1 billion, a record high amount of losses suffered in a single year. Almost 25 per cent of this involved cryptocurrency, a surge from the 6.8 per cent of total losses in 2023, annual scam figures released by the police showed.
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