KUALA LUMPUR — Six Malaysians have been arrested in Singapore in the last two weeks for impersonating authorities, in what police there say is a growing trend of Malaysian involvement in scam syndicates in the island republic.
The latest arrest of a 21-year-old man was made yesterday. He is to be charged today with assisting another person to “retain benefits from criminal conduct,” The Straits Times reported.
Singapore police have “observed an increasing trend of Malaysian nationals travelling to Singapore to assist scam syndicates in collecting cash, gold and valuables from scam victims,” ST added.
The latest case involved the caller claiming to be from HSBC and informing the victim about unauthorised charges on a HSBC card registered under the victim’s name.
When the victim denied having such a card, the call was transferred to someone claiming to be from the Singapore Ministry of Law.
Singapore police on March 12 announced that two Malaysian men, aged 22 and 35, would be charged over two separate cases of impersonating government officials.
One man had pretended to be from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and “investigated” the victim’s bank account which was purportedly being used for money laundering. The victim was persuaded to withdraw money from her account to give to the supposed MAS officer.
In the other case, the suspect claimed to be a representative of a securities firm promoting stock tips and insider information through a Facebook advertisement. The victim initially settled her purported trades through her bank account and later by handing cash over to an unknown person claiming to be from the securities firm. When she realised she had fallen victim to a scam, she had already lost over $66,000 (RM203,504). – March 20, 2026