18 Singaporean money mules arrested

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http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/18-singaporean-money-mules-arrested?singlepage=true

Police have arrested 18 “money mules” - six men and 12 women - in a two-day operation that ended yesterday. They were all Singaporeans aged between 16 and 47 consisting of students, the unemployed and a mix of blue- and white-collar workers.

The mid-year crime statistics released by the police last week showed there were 302 cases of Multiple Payment Online Purchase (MPOP) scams between January and June — a sharp spike from the same period last year, when there were only 13 cases.

In total, victims of such scams in the first half of the year lost at least S$237,000. None have recovered their money.

The jump in the number of cases was a concern. As more people engage in e-commerce and online shopping, the police are stepping up efforts to raise awareness and warn people against falling prey to such scams and potentially getting involved as money mules, he added.

Such scams could work through cheats posing as sellers of electronic gadgets, such as smartphones or tablets, who do not deliver on orders after collecting payment.

Some also dupe victims into making repeated payments on the pretext of mixed-up delivery orders or additional customs fees or insurance.

Scammers use local mobile phone numbers to send Whatsapp messages to victims and utilise local bank accounts of money mules, causing victims to lower their guard.

Under the modus operandi, blogshop owners could also be made use of. The conmen would buy items from a blogshop and get victims to transfer money — usually in excess of the costs of the items — to the account of the blogshop owner.

Then, the conmen would contact the blogshop owner, claiming they had transferred too much money by mistake and asking for the excess sum to be wired to an overseas account.