A 33-year-old man is set to be charged on Thursday, December 4, for allegedly operating an unlicensed cross-border money transfer business.
The charge falls under Section 5(1) of the Payment Services Act 2019, which requires individuals and entities to hold a valid payment services licence unless exempted.
The police said in a statement on Thursday, December 4, that the man was formerly a director of a Singapore-based company that has since been struck off by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority on March 4, 2024. Despite the company's dissolution, investigations suggest he continued to use its name to facilitate financial transactions.
According to the police, the man had opened an account with Wise Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (Wise) using the company's details, stating "overseas remittance" as the purpose. He allegedly conducted cryptocurrency trades—primarily involving the stablecoin USDT—and promoted these services on digital asset platforms such as Binance and Huobi. Interested buyers would transfer fiat currencies to the company's Wise account before receiving USDT in return.
Between May 10 and June 17, 2022, the Wise account reportedly received close to GBP 1.4 million from overseas senders. The man then transferred these funds to his personal bank account before distributing them to other local accounts as payment for USDT purchased from various cryptocurrency sellers.
Investigators found that he did not verify the origins of the funds. At least GBP 75,050 of the amount was later identified as proceeds from an impersonation scam involving two victims in Germany.
Under the Payment Services Act, operating a payment service, including cross-border transfers, without a valid licence carries a maximum penalty of a S$125,000 fine, up to three years' imprisonment, or both.
The police emphasised that they would take firm action against individuals or entities offering unlicensed payment services. They urged the public to rely only on financial institutions or payment service providers licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore when making overseas transfers. Unregulated operators, they warned, are not subject to anti-money laundering or counter-terrorism financing safeguards and pose significant risks to users.
