SINGAPORE — A 19-year-old student was sentenced to eight weeks’ jail on Thursday (18 April) for impersonating a Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) official to assist scammers in defrauding a woman.
The Straits Times reported that Li Jiarui, a Chinese national studying computer science at the Singapore Institute of Management, pleaded guilty to two charges. They comprised one count of intentionally aiding unknown people with carrying out a domestic money transfer service, and another count of engaging in a conspiracy to cheat CIMB Bank.
Four similar charges were also taken into consideration during his sentencing.
What was Li’s role and involvement in the criminal activities?
The court heard that in October 2022, Li received a call from someone claiming to be from DBS Bank, alleging that his identity had been misused for a credit card application in China. He received another call from fraudsters masquerading as the “Chinese police”, informing him of an investigation into money laundering involving him.
Li did not verify the legitimacy of these claims. Instead, he cooperated by opening several bank accounts and providing the details to the supposed “Chinese police” as part of their purported investigations.
In June 2023, Li was roped in by the “Chinese police” to work as an “undercover agent” with a monthly salary of between S$1,000 and S$2,000. He was given a fake MAS official identity card and assigned “missions.”
On 16 July last year, Li was arrested while getting a woman to download a mobile app that would grant scammers remote access to her phone.
Investigations found that, between November 2022 and January 2023, he provided a domestic money transfer service, accepting funds from unknown people and transferring them to a different person.
A total of S$245,450 was deposited into his DBS bank account, most of which was then transferred to other accounts. Of this amount, S$82,350 was traced to scam victims.
In October 2022, Li also applied to open a CIMB bank account under the direction of the “Chinese police.” He falsely claimed on the application form that he would be the sole operator of the account, despite intending to surrender control of it to the fraudsters. This CIMB account was used to transfer tainted funds, with S$40,500 traced to a scam victim.
Li’s sentence to commence post-graduation
According to ST, Deputy Public Prosecutor Matthew Choo sought a jail term of 11 to 15 weeks for Li, highlighting that he had received substantial amounts in his DBS bank account, some of which were tainted. He noted that Li did not profit from his offences.
Defence lawyer Darryl Ho sought a sentence of three to five weeks for his client, saying in mitigation that Li was coerced into committing the offences by the “Chinese police”, who were the true masterminds behind the scheme. He added that Li believed he would face criminal charges from the Chinese government if he did not cooperate.
District Judge Lim Tse Haw considered Li’s relatively young age a significant mitigating factor during sentencing, saying, “I have no doubt that this contributed to his failure to make due diligence checks to the supposed scam calls from DBS and the Chinese police.”
Ho requested that Li’s sentence begin after his graduation in September 2024, which the judge agreed with.
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