SINGAPORE: Twelve people are being investigated following a police probe into recent reports of extortion letters containing manipulated obscene photos of the victims.
The seven men and five women, aged between 18 and 46, had purportedly provided bank accounts and SIM cards used to commit a series of extortion, police said in a news release on Wednesday (May 1).
They were “allegedly involved in either procuring bank accounts for criminal activities or facilitated or assisted in the unauthorised access of Singpass accounts, or purchased and relinquished local SIM cards which were obtained through illegal means”, read the news release.
“All of which were alleged to have been facilitating the criminal activities of overseas scam syndicates.”
Preliminary investigations revealed that the 12 people had purportedly received or were promised commissions.
During the two-week operation, at least S$115,000 (US$84,000) in suspected criminal proceeds, some of which were allegedly linked to other scam cases, were recovered, police said, adding that an array of electronic devices were also seized.
A 23-year-old woman will be charged in court on Thursday for facilitating unauthorised access to computer material under the Computer Misuse Act.
If convicted, she faces up to two years’ jail, a fine, or both.
