SINGAPORE – Five Malaysian men who were recruited by a transnational syndicate behind a “fake friend scam call” ruse targeted at least 70 Singapore-based victims, causing more than $164,000 in losses.

The offences involved scammers contacting victims through text messages or phone calls, pretending to be someone they know before asking for financial assistance.

The five men are: Kek Yuan Chun, 20; Chua Zi Huang, 24; Heng Guo Hao, 26; Loh Chuan Sheng, 36 and Yee Kong Yao, 37.

They pleaded guilty to cheating charges on March 14.

The people they targeted included vulnerable victims aged between 68 and 76 years old.

The prosecution said that all five men had moved into condominium units at the Marina Residence JB in Johor Baru and operated from a scam centre at the property.

Each man was paid RM3,000 (S$900) a month for the first three months before the amount was increased to either RM5,000 or RM5,500 later.

Most of the men were also given “commissions” of 10 per cent based on the total amounts they cheated from their victims.

They reported to one “Tong Hua Shun” and as part of their employment, they were also provided with food and lodging.

Court documents stated that the five men worked from 10am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.

Deputy public prosecutors Daphne Lim and Teng Yin Hang stated in court documents that Tong would disseminate name lists to two different Telegram groups which the syndicate maintained.

Each list contained around 200 names of potential victims and their Singapore-registered numbers.

The men, who were part of the Telegram groups, would then contact all the potential victims before they were given a fresh list of names.

The men were also given scripts which they used as reference when making the scam calls.

As part of the ruse, each man would ask a potential victim if his voice sounded familiar, to which the latter would usually reply by asking if he was a certain friend.

The DPPs said: “The accused persons would then assume the identity of that friend, continue exchanging messages with the callee on WhatsApp over the next few days.

“Thereafter, the callee would be cheated into transferring monies to bank accounts controlled by the transnational syndicate under various false pretexts.&rdquo...