KUALA LUMPUR – Another two Malaysians have been arrested in Singapore for alleged impersonation of government officials, and are to be charged today and tomorrow in the city state.
This raises the total number of Malaysians arrested this month over such offences to eight, The Straits Times (ST) reports.
A 30-year-old Malaysian man is to be charged today with assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct, while a 20-year-old male is to be charged tomorrow with the same offence.
Both were arrested on March 21, as Singapore police announced “an increasing trend of Malaysian nationals travelling to Singapore to assist scam syndicates in collecting cash, gold and valuables from scam victims”.
The victim of the latest Malaysians arrested was a 62-year-old who received calls from unknown individuals, one of them claiming to be an investigating officer from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
The senior citizen was told she was involved in money laundering and was instructed to declare all her valuables, which included 8.6kg of gold. She was told to bring the gold to the MAS authority for inspection, and was to hand it over to an officer with a pre-agreed codeword.
At the meeting point, an unknown man approached her car, said the codeword and took the bag of gold from her before leaving.
The victim called the police after learning that the man was not a MAS officer.
ST said police believe both Malaysians had worked for a transnational scam syndicate.
Under Singapore law, conviction can lead to jail for up to 10 years, $500,000 (RM1.53 million) fine, or both. — March 22, 2026