Singapore Police Arrest 24 in S$1.1M MAS Impersonation Scam

Singapore authorities arrested 24 people aged 15 to 34 following an elaborate government official impersonation scam that defrauded a victim of over S$1.1 million within a week. The scam began with a call from someone posing as an M1 staff member, claiming the victim had an existing mobile plan, then escalated to impersonators of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) alleging the victim's bank account was frozen. The victim was coerced into surrendering funds and valuables, including gold bars worth about S$350,000 and cryptocurrency transfers totaling around S$124,900, as well as payments through YouTrip QR codes exceeding S$600,000. The police conducted an islandwide anti-scam enforcement operation between October 23 and 24, resulting in the arrest of 24 individuals and the investigation of another nine suspects aged 16 to 70, some of whom were scam victims themselves or involved in renting out payment accounts to criminal syndicates. Banks intervened to prevent further losses after flagging suspicious transfers, but scammers coached the victim on how to respond to these alerts. This case highlights a broader issue of cyber scams in Singapore, including links to transnational crime syndicates allegedly operating through co-working spaces to launder money and exploit trafficked workers for online scams.