Zaihan Mohamed Yusof, 27 May 2021
SINGAPORE – Police in Singapore played a crucial role that led to 585 arrests and US$83 million (S$110 million) intercepted in an Asia-Pacific wide probe coordinated by Interpol that sought to crack down on online financial crime.
Voice phishing, romance scams and money laundering linked to online gambling were the “top three types of online financial crimes in terms of the number of cases”, the world policing body told The Straits Times on Thursday (May 27).
In voice phishing ruses, callers often impersonate authority figures to scam victims into providing details that would see them lose their money.
Ms Ilana de Wild, Interpol’s director of Organised and Emerging Crime, said: “As the investigations continue, we won’t disclose the actual figure of dollar value to each crime type but, as the results of Operation Haechi-I attest, the amounts are considerable.
“Our observations showed that investment fraud and money laundering associated with illegal online gambling have contributed to the highest percentage of the value of money intercepted and recovered during the operation.”
She said Singapore – one of nine Asian countries that participated in Operation Haechi-I – “played a crucial role in the operation”.
