SINGAPORE – After being promised $500, a 22-year-old man opened a bank account for a stranger who then used it to receive money from people he scammed.
In about five days, more than $35,500 was swindled from eight people in an e-commerce scam.
On Wednesday (Jan 26), Muhammad Hafizzudin Hasanudin was sentenced to three months’ jail for cheating. One other charge under the Computer Misuse Act was taken into account for his sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Esther Wong said: “This case represents the first prosecution for an offender who relinquished his bank account to online scammers, in return for money, with utter disregard as to how the bank account would be used by the scammers.”
Urging the court to impose a three to four months’ jail term, DPP Wong highlighted the prevalence of scams in Singapore, mentioning that in the first half of 2021, 19,444 scam-related cases were reported, with e-commerce scams making up the second most common type of scam and resulting in at least $2.4 million lost.
The court agreed that general deterrence applied to offences of this nature.
The court heard that in early August last year, Muhammad Hafizzudin received text messages from a man identified only as “Wilson”.
Wilson promised to give him $500 to open a bank account and hand over the ATM card, personal identification number (PIN) and Internet banking login credentials.
After meeting Wilson on Aug 7, 2021, Muhammad Hafizzudin agreed to the arrangement and went to the OCBC…
