Singapore Scammers Launder Money Through Online Gambling

Singapore police seized US $736 million worth of cryptocurrencies and virtual assets from money launderers, operating on online gambling platforms.  

Online gambling platforms and cryptocurrency wallets are involved in a large-scale Singapore’s money laundering scam. Police arrested 10 foreigners who were laundering money through remote gambling and digital crypto wallets. All 10 have been remanded, and their properties, luxury cars, and cryptocurrency wallets worth US $736m have been seized by the Singaporean government. The group consist of a mixture of nationalities, from Cambodia, Cyprus, China, Turkey, and Ni-Vanuatu. Singapore Police officers stated, “these persons are believed to have connections among themselves. All the persons involved are neither Singapore citizens nor permanent residents.” 

Financial fraud expert, Kelvin Law, from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) studies how the digital gambling world is heaven for money laundering. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNOV), between 2% to 5% of the global GDP is laundered by financial criminals. Online platforms, including remote gambling platforms, betting sites, online casinos, and internet gaming, are the platforms that are used by these scammers to launder money. 

US blockchain analysis platform disclosed that nearly US $23.8 billion worth of cryptocurrency and virtual assets were transacted through illicit activities in 2022. These numbers are only the tip of the iceberg; to reveal accurate numbers of digital money laundering is impossible. Cryptocurrency is involved in almost all online money laundering scams because it easily disguises scammers’ transactions and the source of illicit funds. 

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