Singapore: A court in Singapore has sentenced a 26-year-old Indian national to nine weeks after he pleaded guilty to three counts of dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct.
The 26-year-old was involved in gaining more than SGD 26,000 which was traced to three fraud victims in the United States.
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The person identified as Bhambri Kunal was sentenced on Wednesday.
According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Seah Ee Wei Singapore Commercial Affairs Department between February and March 2021 received information about some fraudulent transfers involving three victims in the US.
As per reports, the first victim, Kay Kovaleski in her complaint filed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said she was duped into wiring USD 29,500 (SGD 39,000) to a bank account in Singapore.
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The bank account belonged to a man called Rahul Kumar.
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Another victim had claimed that she was duped over USD 32,620 to a Singapore bank account belonging to one Brar Vishavjeet.
The third victim, Thomas Sabatino was allegedly duped into wiring USD 46,000 to a bank account in Singapore linked to one Lakhwinder Singh.
Bhambri was found to have links to these transfers.
He befriended three Indian nationals identified as Rahul, Simar and Nayak Isha who asked him to help them withdraw money.
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He was found guilty of withdrawing the money using automated teller machine cards.
He made SGD 26,000 withdrawals between February 9 and March 3, 2021, from bank accounts that did not belong to him.
He then handed over the cash to Rahul, Simar and Nayak Isha.
The Deputy Public Prosecutor told the court, “(Bhambri)… did not check the names on the accounts before withdrawing the money. He admitted to knowing that it was wrong and illegal to withdraw money from other people’s bank accounts but continued to do so.”
“(Bhambri) became acquainted with the wrong persons and fell prey to fraudsters who took advantage of his mild-mannered and humble character,” The Straits Times cited the defence lawyer as saying.