SINGAPORE — Two Nigerians believed to be involved in a series of transnational Internet love scams will be charged in court on Tuesday (May 14) — the first time love scam suspects based overseas had been arrested and sent to Singapore for prosecution.

Suspected of being part of an African syndicate, the two Nigerians allegedly recruited two Singaporean women, who acted as money mules to receive at least S$85,700 from victims here in 2017 and 2018.

The women then allegedly handed the cash to members of the syndicate in Malaysia, the Singapore Police Force said in a statement on Monday.

Investigators from Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department worked with their counterparts in Malaysia in a joint investigation and established the identities of the two men, aged 34 and 37.

Both of them were arrested by Malaysian police officers in Kuala Lumpur during an operation on April 16 and taken to Singapore on Monday.

They will be charged with the offence of abetting others to dishonestly receive stolen property. If convicted, they can be jailed up to five years and fined.

The police said that there were 660 reported cases of Internet love scams last year. Victims in Singapore were cheated of at least S$27.5 million.