SINGAPORE – Police operations against loan sharks resulted in the arrest of 316 people and the seizure of US $ 52,000.
Those arrested are between 13 and 71 years old.
Officials from the Criminal Investigation Department and the seven police land divisions raided the island between January 18 and February 7.
Preliminary investigations revealed that 33 of the suspects allegedly molested debtors in their homes, while 68 suspects were allegedly runners who helped loan sharks by transferring money to ATMs, police said on Tuesday (February 9).
The remaining 215 suspects allegedly opened bank accounts and provided loan sharks with their ATM cards, personal identification numbers or internet banking tokens to aid their unlicensed money lending companies.
Cell phones, prepaid SIM cards and other items were also seized during the operations.
The investigation continues.
Police reminded the public not to respond or respond to unsolicited credit reports via text messages or online platforms and to report the WhatsApp messages as spam. The public can call the police or the X-Ah Long hotline at 1800-924-5664 if they suspect or know about illegal lending.
First-time offenders convicted of running or supporting an unlicensed money-lending business can be fined between $ 30,000 and $ 300,000, imprisonment for up to four years, and a stick sentence of up to six beats.
Anyone acting, harassing, or attempting to act on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender may be fined between $ 5,000 and $ 50,000, imprisonment for up to five years, and a stick penalty of between three and six strokes.
