7th youth pleads guilty to role in S$12.8m OCBC phishing scam, bail doubled pending sentencing

SINGAPORE — With various other young persons, Jovan Soh Jun Yan helped to scam OCBC customers of S$12.8 million.

More than 768 police reports from OCBC bank account holders were made between Dec 8, 2021 and Jan 19, 2022 over the phishing scam.

On Thursday (Feb 15), Soh, now aged 21, pleaded guilty to being part of an organised crime group, providing bank accounts to unknown people for criminal conduct and obstruction of justice.

He will be back in court on Feb 29 for sentencing. Three similar charges will be taken into consideration for his sentencing.

Soh is the seventh youth to plead guilty to offences relating to the scam. Five of the other six have been given sentences including probation and reformative training. The sixth is yet to be sentenced.

One other youth is yet to face court.

WHAT HAPPENED

Soh allegedly worked with seven other people to phish OCBC bank account holders. Those who may be named are:

• Brayden Cheng Ming Yan, then 19
• Muhammad Khairuddin Eskandariah, then 20
• Lim Kai Ze, then 21
• Leong Jun Xian, then 19

Three others cannot be named because they were under the age of 18 at the time of the offences.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jason Chua told the court that scammers would impersonate the bank and send a website link via text messages by phone to victims, informing them of fake banking-related matters.

The link would lead victims to a fake OCBC bank log-in page, where victims would key in their electronic banking log-in credentials and one-time passwords.

"Unknown persons gained control of the victims’ bank accounts using the electronic banking credentials provided by the victims," DPP Chua said.

"Thereafter, they would set up digital banking tokens using the electronic banking facilities, and change the victims’ log-in credentials and contact information linked to the accounts, without the victim’s authorisation."

Soh and the other co-accused worked together to source and provide control of bank accounts to unknown persons linked to overseas syndicates.

Some accounts were used to receive and dissipate funds from OCBC scam victims, while others were used to receive and dissipate funds from victims of other scams.

The accused persons would also withdraw cash from the accounts of OCBC phishing scam victims, which they handed over to these syndicates.

The syndicates and the suspects would communicate through three Telegram chat groups named "K2", "G5" and one with the emoji of a Singapore flag, between December 2021 and February 2022.

They also had their own chat group called "Mobile Legends", DPP Chua said.

Soh was part of the K2, Singapore flag and Mobile Legends chat groups, and would source for bank account details through the phishing scam to hand over to the syndicate.

In return, he was promised a monthly salary of S$3,000 and another S$600 to S$800 for each bank account provided.

He was arrested after the police conducted raids at two flats. This was after two of the young persons were found to have received money from OCBC phishing scam victims. A total of 112 automated teller machine cards and debit cards were also seized during the raids.

DPP Chua told the court that Soh was also given S$600 in exchange for access to his cryptocurrency exchange Binance account and Standard Chartered Bank (Stanchart) account sometime in early 2021.

However, his Stanchart account was frozen after suspicious transactions were detected. Learning of this in September 2021, Soh deleted his WhatsApp conversation with the syndicate member to whom he sold his account details.

This prevented the police from gaining access to the contents of their conversation, which contained information relevant to investigations, DPP Chua added.

TURNED OVER A NEW LEAF

DPP Chua called for a total sentence of 12 to 15 months' jail, noting that Soh's actions caused "grave harm to scam victims and Singapore’s hard-earned reputation as a financial hub".

He added that there is a need to deter other young people from being tempted to aid scammers for easy money, but noted that Soh was part of a "relatively small group of... young offenders".

Soh's lawyer John Koh of Populus Law Corp called for a lighter sentence of nine to 11 months' jail.

"Mr Jovan is not the designer of the entire arrangment, nor is he someone that holds a signficant role in the hierarchy of the (syndicate)," Mr Koh argued.

He said that Soh was a "young boy who... was trying to earn some money and had succumbed to temptation".

"He is merely a pawn in this arrangement."

Soh has "turned over a new leaf" and is employed, with his employer coming forward to put in "some good words", the lawyer added.

Mr Koh sought to defer Soh's sentencing for a month so that his client may settle personal matters, but DPP Chua objected to it, noting that one of the suspects had absconded and now has a warrant of arrest against him.

The suspect who absconded is one of the accused persons who cannot be named because he committed the crimes while under the age of 18.

Soh's bail was doubled from S$30,000 to S$60,000 pending his sentencing.

Anyone convicted of assisting another person in retaining the benefits from criminal conduct or committing an offence under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act can be jailed for up to 10 years or fined up to S$500,000, or both.

For being part of a locally linked organised group, Soh faces a jail term of up to five years or a fine of up to S$100,000, or both

He may also be penalised with seven years' jail or a fine, or both, for the obstruction of justice.