Two mobile phone shop employees detained in Singapore in Singpass case

In Singapore, two Malaysian nationals aged 25 and 47 were detained on August 25 on suspicion of involvement in a coordinated scheme to compromise Singpass accounts of the country’s citizens and work permit holders. Both men worked at a mobile phone shop, Channel NewsAsia reports, citing police.

Scheme during SIM card purchases

An operation to identify suspected participants in the scheme was conducted from August 21 to 25 by officers from the police cyber command, with support from the Singpass Trust and Safety team of the government technology agency GovTech.

According to police, the suspects may have used opportunities connected with their jobs to obtain customers’ Singpass login credentials. In one case, while a customer was buying a new SIM card, one of the men allegedly offered to help update the phone number linked to Singpass. Police believe that he used this to register an account with the LiquidPay payment service without the customer’s knowledge.

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Payment accounts frozen

Since the beginning of March, at least 20 Singapore citizens and work permit holders have been under investigation over possible involvement in registering LiquidPay accounts. According to law enforcement, these accounts received S$110,063 linked to various scam schemes. Preliminary investigation indicates that some of these people may not have known about the creation of the accounts or the purpose for which they were used.

Law enforcement officers also identified another 171 Singapore citizens and foreign workers whose Singpass accounts were linked to this activity. According to the authorities, more than 160 additional LiquidPay accounts were registered through these compromised accounts without their owners’ knowledge. All LiquidPay accounts connected to the case were frozen.

According to police, the detainees were due to appear in court on charges of assisting another person in retaining benefits from criminal conduct. If found guilty, they could face up to ten years in prison, a fine of up to S$500,000, or both penalties. The investigation into people who, according to police, voluntarily provided their Singpass credentials is ongoing.