SINGAPORE: A 41-year-old man will be charged in court on Tuesday (Jul 1) for his suspected involvement in a syndicate operating cross-border scams calls, following his arrest over the weekend.
The suspect was arrested in Malaysia on Jun 28 and subsequently handed over to the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
SPF said in a statement on Monday that he will be charged for being party to a criminal conspiracy to commit cheating offences.
The arrest was made through “extensive intelligence sharing and joint investigations” between the Commercial Affairs Department and the Royal Malaysia Police’s Johor Commercial Crime Investigation Department.
The authorities said they had successfully disrupted a criminal syndicate allegedly operating Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) devices to perpetrate scam calls in Singapore.
VICTIMS LED TO BELIEVE THE CALLS ORIGINATED FROM SINGAPORE
Preliminary investigations revealed that the man is believed to be involved in operating an “advanced” cloud-based remote operating system that enabled the syndicate to link to GSM mobile phone networks across Singapore and Malaysia.
“This arrangement allowed the syndicate to operate remotely and route fraudulent calls through local mobile phone networks, leading victims in Singapore to believe that they were receiving calls from within Singapore,” said the police.
VoIP technology allows a person to make voice calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular phone line.
Such services may only allow a person to call other people using the same service, but others may allow calls to anyone who has a telephone number – including local, long distance, mobile, and international numbers, according to information from Federal Communications Commission in the US.
Police added that they will continue to work closely with its foreign law enforcement counterparts to detect and deter transnational crime.
“We will spare no effort to track down those who commit such crimes and ensure that they are brought to justice,” SPF said.
Those convicted of cheating may face a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine.
