15-year-old among 280 under police investigation for alleged involvement in scams, victims lost around $4.4 million

A total of 280 people, including a 15-year-old, are being investigated by the police for their alleged involvement in scams as scammers or money mules, following a two-week operation conducted between Sept 24 and Oct 7.

The latest operation comes just weeks after an earlier two-week operation from Sept 10 to 23 .

It involved officers from the police's Cyber Command and the seven police land divisions.

Police said in a news release on Thursday (Oct 8) that the 189 men and 91 women being investigated are aged between 15 and 81.

They are believed to be involved in more than 633 scam cases comprising mainly e-commerce scams, phishing scams, job scams, government official impersonation scams, investment scams and lucky draw scams, with victims reportedly losing about $4.4 million.

They are also being investigated for various alleged offences including cheating, money laundering, or providing payment services without a licence.

MHA 'particularly concerned' over youths' involvement in scams

In Parliament on Oct 6, Senior Minister K Shanmugam said the Ministry of Home Affairs is "particularly concerned" that many young people are getting involved in scam-related offences , with over 1,000 youths investigated in connection with scam reports.

Reiterating Singapore's approach in considering penalties to be imposed for an offence, Shanmugam said that there are four aspects: deterrence, prevention, retribution and rehabilitation.

In the context of scams, the senior minister said that deterrence, both to prevent offenders from reoffending and to discourage would-be perpetrators, is the most important principle.

"That is because rehabilitation of the individual offender has to be balanced against the need to deter others from facilitating scams, and thereby prevent many more people from becoming victims," said Shanmugam, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs.

On young offenders, the senior minister stated that Singapore cannot treat them more leniently simply because of their age.

"Scam syndicates will have every incentive to recruit more young people as mules. We cannot allow this to happen."

Shanmugam added that the approach in recent rounds of legislative amendments targeting scam-related offences has been to send a strong message that every offender, regardless of age, will be dealt with seriously.

If found guilty of cheating, an individual may face a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine, while those convicted of money laundering may be jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to $500,000.

Carrying on a business to provide any type of payment service without a licence may result in a fine of up to $125,000, a jail term for up to three years, or both.

Additionally, scammers as well as members or recruiters of scam syndicates will face mandatory caning of at least six strokes and up to 24 strokes, as part of amendments introduced by the Ministry of Home Affairs which came into effect on Dec 30, 2025.

Scam mules who enable scammers by laundering scam proceeds, providing SIM cards and SingPass credentials may face up to 12 strokes of the cane.

The police reiterated that those found linked to such crimes will be held accountable, and individuals involved in mule-related offences may face restrictions to their banking services and mobile line subscriptions to prevent further facilitation of scams.

在9月24日至10月7日为期两周的行动中，警方对包括一名15岁少年在内的共280人展开调查，他们涉嫌参与诈骗活动，担任诈骗犯或洗钱骡子。

此次行动距离 9 月 10 日至 23 日为期两周的行动仅几周时间。

此次行动涉及警察网络指挥部和七个陆军分局的警员。

警方在周四（10 月 8 日）发布的新闻稿中表示，正在接受调查的 189 名男性和 91 名女性的年龄在 15 岁至 81 岁之间。

据信他们参与了超过 633 起诈骗案件，主要包括电子商务诈骗、网络钓鱼诈骗、求职诈骗、冒充政府官员诈骗、投资诈骗和抽奖诈骗，据报道受害者损失约 440 万美元。

他们还因涉嫌欺诈、洗钱或无证提供支付服务等各种罪行而受到调查。

内政部对青少年参与诈骗活动“尤为关注”

10月6日，高级部长尚穆根在国会表示，内政部“特别关注”许多年轻人卷入诈骗相关犯罪活动，已有超过1000名青年因诈骗举报而接受调查。

尚穆根重申了新加坡在考虑对犯罪行为施加处罚时所采取的方法，他表示，有四个方面：威慑、预防、报复和改造。

这位高级部长在谈到诈骗问题时表示，威慑是最重要的原则，既可以防止犯罪分子再次犯罪，也可以阻止潜在的犯罪分子。

“这是因为必须平衡对个别罪犯的改造与阻止其他人协助诈骗的需要，从而防止更多的人成为受害者，”尚穆根说道，他同时也是国家安全统筹部长和内政部长。

关于青少年罪犯，这位高级部长表示，新加坡不能仅仅因为他们的年龄就对他们宽大处理。

“诈骗团伙会想方设法招募更多年轻人充当洗钱工具。我们绝不能允许这种情况发生。”

尚穆根补充说，最近几轮针对诈骗相关犯罪的立法修正案的做法是发出一个强烈的信号，即无论年龄大小，每个犯罪者都将受到严肃处理。

如果被判犯有欺诈罪，个人可能面临最高 10 年的监禁和罚款；而被判犯有洗钱罪的人可能面临最高 10 年的监禁和最高 50 万美元的罚款。

未经许可从事任何类型的支付服务业务，可能会被处以最高 125,000 美元的罚款、最高三年的监禁，或两者并罚。

此外，诈骗犯以及诈骗集团的成员或招募者将面临至少六下、至多二十四下鞭刑的强制处以鞭笞，这是内政部于 2025 年 12 月 30 日生效的修正案的一部分。

为诈骗分子洗钱、提供 SIM 卡和 SingPass 凭证的诈骗骡子，最高可被判处 12 下鞭刑。

警方重申，任何被发现与此类犯罪有关的人都将受到追究，参与洗钱相关犯罪的个人可能会面临银行服务和手机线路订阅方面的限制，以防止进一步助长诈骗活动。