Malaysian suspect in S$5.4m China officials impersonation scam charged in Singap

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SINGAPORE, Jan 19 — A Malaysian man who was part of a group that impersonated Chinese government officials in order to scam a Singaporean woman of S$5.4 million (RM16.1 million) has been charged, three days after he was arrested in Kuala Lumpur.

Looi Yu Chong, 20, was charged today with dishonestly receiving S$500,000 from a person called Tan Saw Kuan. TODAY understands that Tan is a money mule.

The victim, who was not named in the court documents, was reached on the phone and made to believe that she had to surrender all her savings to the Chinese “authorities” to assist with an overseas investigation.

Over a one-week period in November, she delivered the money to different strangers at various locations across Singapore, the police said in a statement last night.

The suspects, including Looi, left the Republic after committing the crime, they added.

Looi was nabbed on Jan 16 and brought back to Singapore yesterday, with the help of the Royal Malaysian Police.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in jail, or a fine, or both.

Victims here have fallen prey to about 158 such scams between January and November last year.  They have collectively lost more than S$12 million, the police said.

Commercial Affairs Department director David Chew said yesterday that the police “will spare no effort to identify, arrest and charge these criminals and their money mules”.

“While they may try to try to leave Singapore to evade responsibility for their criminal acts, this arrest (of Looi) is testament to the continuing resolve of the police, both here and abroad, to bring them to justice,” Chew added.

Looi will be in remand and is expected to return to the court on January 26. — TODAY


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