Tuesday, 15 Sep 2020 07:34 AM MYT
In 2015, Singaporean Tan Yock Eng was issued with a letter of advice from the police cautioning her against money laundering activities. She had met a man called Dieter Drenke in New York around 2011 and she regarded him as her boyfriend, the court heard.She claimed that Drenke told her he would settle down in Dubai, and that he asked for money while in Malaysia in 2014.
However, he then got her to transfer into another bank account a sum of S$7,000 that she had received. He had told her the money was from his Malaysian friend and he wanted to avoid high bank fees.In November 2014, the police called Tan up for investigations. The S$7,000 had come from a victim who was cheated by his online girlfriend into transferring the money to Tan’s account.A few months later, Tan received a letter of advice.
She deposited the cash in ringgit through an automated teller machine near Taman Pelangi in Johor Baru. She did not know whose bank account it was the deposit went.Handed over money at bus stop Drenke then called Tan through the Viber mobile application, telling her to withdraw the sum and hand it over to his associates at a Bedok Central bus stop the next evening.