SINGAPORE — The foreign syndicate behind the DHL phone scam raked in more than S$12 million between the end of March and June this year, a district court heard on Thursday (July 28).

The sum came from about 155 victims caught in their deception so far, revealed Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Charis Low, as she filed amended charges against three Malaysians suspected to be involved in the scam.

The trio — Hiu Sheng Fatt, 21; Ooi Lun Xiang, 22; and Tee Jia Yong, 22 — were arrested on July 14, following a police report lodged earlier that day by a 65-year-old woman who is said to have lost S$50,000 to the scam.

They were charged on July 16 with dishonestly receiving stolen property. But during their second hearing on Thursday, the charge was amended to arranging with an unknown person to withdraw money “which represents the said unknown person’s benefits from criminal conduct”. 

It emerged in court that the trio had come to Singapore on July 14 intending to withdraw a sum of S$143,800 from Hiu’s UOB bank account. 

“Within the afternoon of 14 July 2016, sums totalling S$121,900 were successfully withdrawn and the prosecution believes that these monies have left the country,” said DPP Low.

Hiu remains in remand, with no bail offered. DPP Low said: “The accused is a foreigner with no roots or assets in Singapore, and is a flight risk.”

Meanwhile, Ooi and Tee will be remanded for another week to assist the police with investigations into their roles in withdrawing money from another bank account. 

A fourth Malaysian, 23-year-old Moi Chee Hou, was charged last week for his involvement in the DHL phone scam, and his case will be heard again next month.  According to the police, over 3,000 calls and reports in relation to this DHL scam were received between end-March and June. 

In the case of the 65-year-old woman, she had received a call from an unknown person claiming to a DHL employee. She was told that her parcel contained illegal goods and had been detained by China customs.

Threatened with legal action, the woman transferred S$50,000 to a local bank account. She later notified the police. 

After identifying Hiu, who had withdrawn money from a bank, the police nabbed him at Ang Mo Kio Hub at about 6.30pm, and Ooi and Tee at Tuas at about 8.45pm. 

If convicted, each of them could be jailed up to a decade, fined up to S$500,000, or both. All three return to court on Aug 4.