SINGAPORE: Two Malaysian men who needed money were added to Telegram chat groups where they received instructions to withdraw cash from ATMs in Singapore.

Between them, they withdrew about S$1 million (US$792,000) by following a duty roster.

The large sum of money belonged to victims of government official impersonation scams and Alipay scams, and a transnational syndicate was behind the operation, the prosecution said.

Chang Yang, 23, and Ivan Thong Yoong Khean, 27, pleaded guilty on Wednesday (Feb 11).

Chang admitted to conspiring with Thong to withdraw S$403,020 from 24 bank accounts between May 2024 and December 2024. Another two charges will be considered in sentencing.

On top of admitting to the same charge as Chang, Thong also pleaded guilty to a charge of retaining 51 ATM cards and their access cards, together with Chang. A third charge will be considered in sentencing.

The court heard that Thong had taken a loan from an acquaintance in September 2023 and was unable to begin repayments in February 2024.

The acquaintance suggested a "job opportunity" which required Thong to do cash withdrawals from ATMs in Singapore.

Thong agreed and was in two Telegram group chats known as "Cheng Gong Ji Tuan, Che Shou, An Qian Qun" and "2".

Chang was added to the chats in May 2024 by a person he owed RM100,000 (S$32,200) to.

The creditor told him that he would be able to pay off his debt by following the instructions issued in the two chats.

Thong and Chang received their duty rosters from one of the chats each week. The roster assigned two people to enter Singapore on certain days every week to perform cash withdrawals.

On average, the two men were on duty two to three times a week.

After they entered Singapore, the men would receive specific instructions from the other chat on how much to withdraw, which ATM cards to use and the one-time passwords for each card.

They would collect the cards from lockers at *Scape mall or be handed the cards by a delivery driver.

The men were allowed to decide where to make the withdrawals from, and they were to update the chat once they had settled on a location.

Once given the instructions, the pair would promptly withdraw the cash, as the banks would be alerted to suspicious deposits or withdrawals if they took too long, leading to the accounts being frozen.

After withdrawing the money, the men would update the chat on the amounts withdraw...