The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and tech giant Meta provided information that led to the arrest of seven suspected members of an illegal betting syndicate in Singapore.
On Monday, October 6, four men, all from Singapore, were charged in court with one count each of running an illegal betting operation. The remaining three men are still under investigation.
Ong Wei Jie, 28, Samuel Chiam, 39, Song Yong Sheng, 52, and Shuek Jin Yong, 35, are the four Singaporeans who have been charged.
The police said on Monday that they have received multiple reports of victims in Singapore being lured into opening gambling accounts with an online gambling website since March 2023.
In return for gambling credits, the victims were asked to send money to anonymous bank accounts. At first, they would use bank transfers—also from anonymous accounts—to cash in their winnings.
But when they kept playing on the site and tried to cash in more winnings, the syndicate told them they would have to either buy more credits or get more winnings.
According to the police, a number of victims lost over S$175,000.
According to initial investigations, the website is thought to be operating from abroad and targeting victims in Singapore and other Asian nations in order to avoid being discovered by police in Singapore.
The police said they carried out additional investigations based on the intelligence, but they did not reveal the precise details that the FBI and Meta had provided.
Following concurrent raids at several locations, including Bukit Batok, Hougang, and Pasir Ris, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Police Intelligence Department took the seven men into custody.
A total of $500,000 worth of cash, 15 bank accounts, a luxury watch, computers, cell phones, and SIM cards were confiscated by the police.
Chiam allegedly received illegal soccer bets from bettors between January and August, while Ong allegedly received online casino bets through an illegal betting site between October 1 and October 5.
Shuek and Song were both allegedly syndicate runners.
In 2023, Song allegedly took money out of and deposited it into different bank accounts, and in June 2024, Shuek hired a second man to work as a "front-end game developer" for an illicit gambling website.
On October 13, the cases of the four men who are presently remanded will be reheard.
Each faces a maximum jail sentence of five years and a fine of up to S$200,000.
Senior Assistant Commissioner Yeo Yee Chuan, deputy director of the CID, said, "The Singapore Police Force takes a serious view against all forms of illegal betting activities and will continue to take tough enforcement action and prosecute those involved to the fullest extent of the law, wherever they choose to operate."
