SINGAPORE – The police have arrested seven alleged members of an illegal betting syndicate in Singapore, with information from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and tech giant Meta.

Four of the men, all Singaporeans, were charged in court on Oct 6 with one count each of conducting an unlawful betting operation. Investigations into the remaining three men are ongoing.

On Oct 6, police said that since March 2023, they had received several reports of victims in Singapore being enticed into opening gambling accounts with an online gambling website.

The victims were asked to transfer money to anonymous bank accounts in exchange for gambling credits. Initially, they would redeem their winnings through bank transfers, also from anonymous accounts.

However, when they continued to gamble on the website and attempted to redeem additional winnings, the syndicate informed them that they would need to either accumulate more winnings or buy more credits.

Police said several victims lost more than $175,000 in total.

To evade detection by police here, the website is believed to be operating from overseas while targeting victims in Singapore and other Asian countries, according to preliminary investigations.

Police did not disclose the specific information provided by the FBI and Meta but said they conducted further probes based on the intelligence.

Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Police Intelligence Department then mounted simultaneous raids at multiple locations – including Bukit Batok, Hougang and Pasir Ris – and arrested the seven men.

The police seized cash, 15 bank accounts and a luxury watch worth a total of $500,000, along with computers, mobile phones and SIM cards.

The four Singaporeans charged are Ong Wei Jie, 28; Samuel Chiam, 39; Song Yong Sheng, 52; and Shuek Jin Yong, 35.

Ong is said to have received online casino bets thr...