Six people to be charged for allowing criminals to use bank accounts

SIX people will be charged in court on Monday (November 4) after they gave up bank accounts used by a criminal group to facilitate the movement of large amounts of money.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a statement on Sunday that the six people included three men and three women, but did not provide details about their ages or nationalities.

Six people opened new bank accounts and gave details to a crime syndicate in exchange for monthly payments. Between September 2022 and May 2023, the accounts were used to move almost S$8 million.

The defendants will be charged with abetting fraud, abetting unauthorized access to computer materials, aiding another in obtaining the benefits of criminal conduct, and registering a shell company, among other crimes.

Four of these individuals are also alleged to have helped launder money and will face additional charges for transferring benefits from criminal conduct.

One of the four men acted as a recruiter, implicated the other three in the scheme and provided false information to an investigating officer.

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Six suspects have been charged in connection with a series of banking-related malware crimes; Eight people were arrested in June 2023 for their involvement in banking-related malware crimes reported in Singapore between May and June 2023.

In this case, SPF had received reports that malware was used to compromise mobile devices, leading to unauthorized transactions on victims’ bank accounts despite not revealing their one-time passwords.

One of the eight men will face additional charges in court on November 4. He served as a “middle manager” in the union, recruiting members and instructing others to recruit more people who would give up their bank accounts.

The criminal group allegedly instructed other members of the organized crime group to withdraw cash or transfer funds for the purpose of facilitating money laundering.

The penalty for attempting to open a bank account by deceiving a bank is imprisonment for up to three years, a fine, or both. Abetting unknown persons to access a bank’s computer system carries a fine of up to $5,000, imprisonment of up to two years, or both for first-time offenders.

Transfer of benefits derived from criminal conduct (which includes assisting others to retain benefits derived from criminal conduct by conversion or transfer) is punishable by a fine of up to S$500,000 or imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both.

The penalty for membership in a locally affiliated organized crime group is a fine of up to S$100,000 and imprisonment for up to five years, or both.