SINGAPORE: A man who joined his wife in laundering over S$1 million (US$775,600) in love scam proceeds was sentenced to six years and four months’ jail on Monday (Mar 30).

Singaporean couple Anthony Ng Zi Qin, 53, and his wife, Florence Choo Li Jin, 52, converted cash into a cryptocurrency called USDT and bought Bitcoin in exchange for commissions.

His wife had been sentenced to jail for six years and eight months last month.

THE CASE

Ng was approached by a 60-year-old man named Cheng Keng Tiong, who asked if he knew how to buy cryptocurrency.

Cheng said they could receive commissions if they helped an unidentified person called Keith to collect cash, convert it into USDT and use it to buy Bitcoin.

Ng agreed and started helping Cheng in late 2022 before roping his wife into the scheme.

Both Ng and his wife recruited other people into the scheme for various roles, such as collecting money from victims or providing bank accounts.

One of the victims was a 74-year-old woman. In July 2022, she received a message from a Steven Zhang on Facebook.

He said he wanted to befriend her, and the victim obliged after his persistent attempts.

Steven claimed he was working as an engineer at an oil rig and that he needed money.

The victim started transferring money to bank accounts Steven provided, and their conversations became romantic.

Between February 2023 and mid-August 2023, Ng conspired with his wife and Keith to convert S$1.1 million received from this victim into USDT and later Bitcoin.

He and his wife took turns collecting cash from the victim, receiving a 3 per cent commission which they shared with Cheng.

Ng’s cut of this was about S$12,888.

The victim did not recover any of the money and was left with just S$500,000 in retirement savings.

At least three victims aged above 60 were involved in the scams.

Multiple police reports were lodged and Ng and his wife were arrested on Sep 22, 2023.

Ng pleaded guilty to multiple charges under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, with another eight charges taken into consideration.

Across his charges, he had facilitated the laundering of at least S$1.66 million into Bitcoin, which has been entirely dissipated.

He also gained at least S$401,110, which he had reasonably suspected to be criminal benefits.

The prosecution sought 78 to 83 months’ jail for Ng, saying he had not only aided Keith but recruited another person to gain more commissions.

He was involved in the criminal enterprise from as early as Nov 2, 2022 until Sep 22, 2023, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Phoebe Tan.

Even on the day of his arrest, he had conspired to acquire S$69,316 from another victim and tried to take S$115,000 from a retiree.

For money laundering, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$500,000, or both.