In a perfect world, most of us get married for love – we grow old together and experience life together. Like Taylor Swift said, “It’s a love story, baby, just say yes”.
However, recently, saying “yes” resulted in 13 people being arrested.
Singapore’s Immigration & Checkpoint Authority (ICA) said that “a total of 14 subjects were arrested for suspected Marriage of Convenience (MOC) related offences”.
Sham Marriage
According to ICA, they were conducting an enforcement operation on 5 June 2024.
That day, ICA officers were reportedly doing simultaneous raids in many public and private residential areas in Singapore following investigations into the MOC-related offences.
MOC, also known as sham marriage, is when two people get married for the “sole intention of acquiring a benefit or advantage”.
This is problematic because a marriage can grant people citizenship and rewards. It typically is done by people who are in desperate need of employment in Singapore or are in some sort of financial distress.
This is also often confused with marriage fraud. Marriage fraud is when a person is tricked into getting married to someone. They are often taken advantage of through this deception.
Who Are The Suspects?
ICA said that in addition to the investigations on the MOC-related offences, the suspects were also investigated for “possible false declaration offences in their Visit Pass applications”.
ICA did their enforcement operation and arrests also because they suspected that the people involved were forming a syndicate arranging for MOCs to take place.
According to court documents, the suspects are:
Six Vietnamese Women
- Ngo Thi Thanh, 28
- Hu Gia Phan, 30
- Nguyen Thi Thuy Quyen, 30
- Tran Ngoc Phuoc Thao, 31
- Nguyen Thi Minh Trang, 32
- Nguyen Thi Thu Giang, 32
Seven Singaporean Men
- Noel Teo Junwei, 23
- Gan Jun Wei, 25
- Melvin Tan Soon Kang, 27
- Lim Kian Keong, 32
The first four men were allegedly given between $8,000 and $18,000 each for getting married.
5. Jonathan Kwek Zi Hao, 32
This guy allegedly got a cash reward too but the amount wasn’t shared in the court documents.
6. Teo Wei Jie, 27
He gave away an unknown amount of cash relating to this case.
7. Javier Ang Kun Teng, 26
Every group-crime needs to have a “strategist”. This guy was supposedly the matchmaker for Noel, Gan and another guy named Ryan Lim Meng Yang, 25.
Apparently, Javier committed the offences to help three of the Vietnamese women get a visit pass.
Under the Immigration Act, each suspect was handed between one and 12 charges.
Penalties for MOC Offences
ICA said that all 13 suspects were charged in court on 6 June 2024. They will continue with further investigations into the MOC offences committed by the suspects.
They added that if the suspects are found guilty, they will be fined up to $10,000 or be imprisoned for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both.
While it is encouraged for us to not be so kaypoh about people’s relationships, ICA said that the public (yes, us) should report suspected sham marriages or potential immigration-related offences to them via their online form.
This online form is found on their website, and ICA promises that whatever information you give will be “treated in the strictest confidence”.
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