CEO duped in US$36 million business email scam as Singapore, 9 jurisdictions conduct major crackdown
Operation Frontier+ III resulted in the arrest of 3,018 people and the seizure of more than US$161 million in illicit funds.
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SINGAPORE: The CEO of a Singapore-based company was tricked into authorising a US$36.3 million (S$46.5 million) transfer after scammers impersonated his firm’s chairman, police said on Wednesday (May 20), in one of the cases uncovered during a two-month international crackdown on transnational scams.
The case was part of Operation Frontier+ III, a coordinated anti-scam crackdown involving Singapore and nine foreign law enforcement agencies from Mar 10 to May 7.
The operation resulted in the arrest of 3,018 people, aged between 13 and 85, and the investigation of 7,553 people linked to over 138,000 scam cases, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a news release. About US$752 million in losses was involved.
Nearly 102,000 bank accounts were also frozen, resulting in the seizure of more than US$161 million in illicit funds.
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As part of the operation, SPF arrested over 130 people in Singapore and investigated more than 1,000. all of whom were linked to more than 3,000 scam cases involving nearly S$70 million in losses. Police also froze 2,315 bank accounts and seized about S$35 million.
SINGAPORE
On Apr 9, a CEO of a firm based in Singapore received a WhatsApp call from a scammer posing as the chairman of the firm’s headquarters, who instructed him to assume responsibility for an acquisition project.
The CEO subsequently directed his chief financial officer to arrange the funding, and between Apr 13 and Apr 17, a total of US$36.3 million was transferred from the company’s overseas and local bank accounts into two local OCBC accounts - US$27.1 million originating from the Luxembourg subsidiary and US$9.7 million from the Singapore entity.
The deception was uncovered on Apr 17 after the CEO verified the acquisition with the actual chairman, police said.
“Following the report, the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) intervened swiftly, seizing US$9.7 million in the local accounts, while approximately US$ 26.5 million had already been wired to bank accounts in Hong Kong,” police said.
The police immediately contacted Hong Kong’s Anti-Deception Coordination Centre, resulting in the seizure of more than US$11.1 million from Hong Kong bank accounts and associated cryptocurrency wallets.
“Investigations subsequently led to the arrest of two Singaporeans who facilitated the opening of a corporate bank account to receive the illicit funds,” police said, adding that investigations are ongoing.
In another business email compromise scam, the police received a report on Apr 30 that a Singapore-based commodity trading firm had been deceived into transferring US$6.6 million to a fraudulent bank account in Oman.
The victim’s staff had received an email that appeared to be from its legitimate supplier, but the domain name had been subtly altered by transposing two letters, making the spoofed address "virtually indistinguishable from the genuine one”, said police.
Believing that the request was authentic, the staff initiated the transfer of the full amount to the fraudulent bank account, before discovering the fraud the next day, after the genuine supplier notified them that they had not changed their bank account.
Upon the report, police immediately engaged with the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Interior and Dubai police to facilitate liaison with Omani authorities.
The fraudulent funds were eventually traced and fully recovered.
In its news release, SPF also highlighted two other joint operations that involved collaboration with Malaysian authorities.
“Our ability to curb cross-border scams hinges on the depth of the relationships we build with the FRONTIER+ network,” said Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) director Peggy Pao.
“When agencies share real-time alerts, pool analytical resources and conduct synchronised raids, this accelerates the identification of illicit fund flows and the dismantling of scam operations.
FRONTIER +
FRONTIER+ is a cross-border anti-scam collaboration platform, comprising representatives from anti-scam centres of 14 law enforcement agencies.
More than 3,200 officers from Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Maldives, Thailand, Macau, Indonesia, Brunei and Canada were deployed in the two-month operation FRONTIER+ III from Mar 10 to May 7, SPF said.
SPF added that the platform aims to broaden its reach by welcoming new member countries and regions, ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of enforcement efforts against transnational crime.
“Looking ahead, we will continue to build on our FRONTIER+ partnerships, so that Singapore and the wider region remain resilient against the ever-evolving tactics of scam syndicates,” said Ms Pao.
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