Man sentenced to 7 weeks in jail, could not account for monies banked into his account
The Commercial Affairs Department was alerted in December 2020 when a man's bank account received US$21,500 (S$30,195) from a suspected foreign victim of remittance fraud in October 2020.
Investigations showed that the account - belonging to Kanda Amandeep Singh - received another $5,000 in November 2020, which was traced to another foreign victim linked to a tech support scam.
On Monday, Kanda, 26, was sentenced to seven weeks in jail after he pleaded guilty to two offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (CDSA).
The funds received in his account between October and November 2020 were withdrawn within the same day or the next day via cash withdrawals and fund transfers.
Kanda had provided his bank account and Internet banking details to a third party who claimed he needed help to receive monies from his relatives.
The third party asked Kanda to withdraw a sum of about $8,900 between Oct 16 and Oct 17, 2020. Kanda also withdrew $5,000 on Nov 7.
The court was not told how Kanda met the third party.
Kanda was not aware of the source of these funds and felt suspicious but continued to conduct the withdrawals.
The withdrawals were traced to alleged foreign victims of remittance fraud.
As Kanda failed to account for how he came by the extra money, he was liable for two counts of an offence under the CDSA.
The offence of possessing any property which may be reasonably suspected of being, in part, directly representing the benefits of criminal conduct carries a fine of up to $150,000, or imprisonment of up to three years, or both.
The police have regularly reminded the public not to allow others to use their bank accounts for any purpose.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
