More than 5 years’ jail for man who helped Cambodian crime ring collect over $650k from scam victims

SINGAPORE – A man who worked for an organised criminal group in Cambodia and collected over $650,000 from at least 14 of its scam victims was sentenced to five years’ jail on Aug 28.

As Muhammad Firdaus Abdul Rahman committed the offences while under a remission order, he must spend an additional 236 days behind bars.

He was previously given a prison sentence of two years and seven months for cheating.

Regarding his latest offences, the 37-year-old Singaporean had pleaded guilty in June to one count each of dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct and being a member of a criminal group.

Sometime before October 2024, one of his friends, identified as Jackson Lim Soon Lai, told him about a “scam job” in Cambodia, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Xavier Tan.

According to court documents, Lim told Firdaus that he could earn a basic pay of $1,000 on top of a 3 per cent commission.

Firdaus accepted the job offer and flew to Cambodia with Lim and another person known as Chris Jerome on Oct 3, 2024.

From an undisclosed location in the country on the border, Firdaus and Jerome were instructed to make calls to Singapore phone numbers and claim that they were from the “Singapore Cyber Emergency Response Team”, and that they were calling regarding issues related to cybersecurity.

“If the person they called believed them, they were to transfer the call to another line for one of their colleagues to talk to (the victims),” the DPP said.

If a victim transferred funds to the syndicate, Firdaus and Jerome would get a cut of the money, depending on who made the initial call, added the prosecutor.

Firdaus made scam calls for about a month before flying back to Singapore.

After his return, court documents stated that Firdaus helped Lim gather information on the Singapore Police Force and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, including publicly available details on their activities and photographs.

On or around April 19, 2025, Lim told Firdaus that he needed help to collect packages of money and hand them to an unknown person.

According to the court documents, Firdaus was aware that the funds were benefits from criminal conduct.

On several occasions in April and May 2025, he collected nearly $656,800 from at least 14 victims of government official impersonation scams.

He received at least $1,000 for the collections, the court heard.

Court documents did not state how his offences came to light, but he was arrested and charged in court in 2025.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.