13 Scam Victims Allegedly Transferred Over $430K Into Man’s Bank Account

It’s one thing to dupe a single individual of their money.

But to dupe 13 in total?

Lest you’re unaware, it takes more than cold-heartedness to complete such vicious “brutality.”

13 Scam Victims Allegedly Transferred Over $430K Into Man’s Bank Account

On 23 September 2021, Tan Zhixian, 39, stepped into a district court to face his “demons.”

He faces one count each of “dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct” and “providing unlicensed cross-border money transfer services”, after a total of S$430,000 was wired into his bank account.

There are believed to be as many as 13 scam victims, who lodged reports between 28 August 2020 and 24 November 2020.

Apparently, a man known only as Aloysius had told Tan to transfer around S$450,000 into another bank account.

The S$450,000 in question included the scam amount.

The cash was subsequently directed to a third bank account, that’s located overseas.

It should also be noted that in September 2020, Tan had instructed two men to collect nearly S$15,000 from personnel who had allegedly hired him to wire monies overseas.

The police added: “Preliminary investigations revealed that from Aug 4 to Sept 11, 2020, (Tan) had allegedly carried on a business of providing cross-border money transfer services, where he allegedly transferred a sum of about $359,500 that was received in his DBS bank account to persons based in the People’s Republic of China.”

“The transfer services were believed to have been performed without a valid licence.”

At the current moment, the two men, as well as the 13 scam victims, are assisting with investigations.

Tan’s case is set to continue on 21 October 2021.

For “dealing with the benefits of criminal activities”, he can face a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine of up to S$500,000.

For “providing unlicensed cross-border money transfer services”, he can face a jail term of up to three years and a fine of up to S$125,000.

Suspicious Funds

Meanwhile, members of the public have been cautioned to report any suspicious funds in their bank accounts.

They should NOT, under any circumstance, attempt to withdraw the funds or transfer them.

“Should they withdraw or transfer the funds, they may be liable for assisting others to launder monies from criminal activities.

“Their bank accounts will be frozen, and they will be subjected to criminal investigation and possible prosecution in court,” said the police.

Members of the public should contact either their banks or the police for further instructions.

For the record, innocence is not a valid card to play if anything goes wrong, as this particular case attests to.

On 17 Jan 2019, 32-year-old Singaporean Ambikai was withdrawing S$500 from the ATM when she realised she had an extra S$17,000 in her bank account.

Instead of reporting the excess funds, she withdrew S$3,000, using S$1,000 for personal expenses and kept the remaining amount.

She had also transferred S$5,000 to her boyfriend’s account.

The next day, she took out the remaining S$9,000 and gave it with the S$2,000 she had on hand to her brother-in-law, who reportedly needed the money for home renovations.

She was eventually sentenced to 24 days’ imprisonment.

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