Jail, caning for man who posed as cop, collected cash and valuables from scam victims

SINGAPORE – A runner for a transnational crime syndicate, who sometimes posed as a police officer, collected cash and valuables worth nearly $200,000 in total from four victims of a government official impersonation scam.

On Oct 1, Sugumaran Mohan, 21, was sentenced to three years, two months and two weeks’ jail, as well as two strokes of the cane.

The Malaysian had pleaded guilty to dealing with the benefits of crime.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Matthew Choo said that the four female victims were between 38 and 73 years old.

Each woman had handed Sugumaran cash and valuables worth between $10,029 and $132,206.

Sugumaran, who was looking for a job before Jan 6, 2026, was introduced to another Malaysian man, Kathiresan Krishnan, 28. The man’s case is pending.

The DPP said Kathiresan told Sugumaran about a “courier” job that involved collecting and delivering a company’s money in Singapore.

Sugumaran, who was promised RM2,000 (S$625) per month, accepted the job offer.

According to court documents, Kathiresan told him that their boss, known only as “Jack”, would give instructions via messaging platform Telegram.

Kathiresam also told Sugumaran to dress formally and avoid showing any tattoos.

While on the job, Sugumaran had to wear a mask to obscure part of his face.

Court documents stated that he suspected the job had “something to do with illegal or bad work”.

He also suspected that Jack was using him to do “bad business” that involved “lying to get money”.

The DPP said: “(Sugumaran) did not know and did not ask for the name of the company he was supposedly working for.

“He did not know what the company’s business was and did not conduct any checks to verify the company’s business.”

Despite this, he met the four victims on separate occasions between Jan 6 and 28 to collect cash and valuables worth nearly $200,000 in total.

He travelled from Malaysia to Singapore to meet the victims in places including Clementi and Sengkang.

He identified himself to the victims by using a codeword or by posing as a police officer.

The women then handed him the cash and valuables, including gold jewellery.

After that, he handed the loot to other unknown individuals, and returned to Malaysia after completing his tasks.

Sugumaran’s offences came to light when he was in Singapore on Jan 29 to meet a fifth woman in Waterloo Street.

He approached the 38-year-old woman and pretended to be an officer from the Singapore Police Force (SPF).

He showed her what he claimed was an SPF warrant card, which he had obtained from Jack.

The woman handed Sugumaran gold bars and jewellery worth more than $126,000 in total.

But she later became suspicious and took back the valuables.

Sugumaran returned to Malaysia and decided to stop working for Jack.

After the woman made a police report, Sugumaran was arrested when he returned to Singapore on March 19.

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