Woman, 70, jailed for acting as money mule for online 'boyfriend'

A 70-year-old woman was sentenced to 10 weeks' jail on Monday (July 13) for acting as a money mule for a man she believed was her online lover.

Christina Cheong Yoke Lin pleaded guilty to one count of entering into an arrangement to receive money without ascertaining its source. 

The court noted that Cheong was previously handed a mandatory treatment order in 2019 after falling victim to a love scam and tricking the scammer of $50,000.

In this latest incident, Cheong received over $38,000 in her bank account from a man she met online in September 2024. At least $2,000 of the sum was linked to a love scam.

The man, known as "Liam", first contacted Cheong on Instagram. He claimed to be an engineer working on an oil rig.

The two began chatting daily on Telegram. Liam appeared to show care and concern for Cheong, which led her to believe that they were romantic partners.

Liam asked Cheong to help him open an account on cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, claiming that he was unable to access a local bank account while working offshore, CNA reported.

Believing him, Cheong set up the account in her name and provided him the login credentials.

Cheong also allowed Liam to use her personal DBS bank account to receive money from people whom he claimed were friends and secretaries working in his company, reported The Straits Times (ST).

Liam also instructed Cheong to transfer the funds to the Coinbase account and use the money to purchase Bitcoin.

Liam would then transfer the Bitcoin to other cryptocurrency wallets within the same day.

The duo repeated the process multiple times, with Cheong receiving a total of $38,100 in her bank account over seven transactions in December 2024 before her account was eventually frozen later that month.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kenley Kwan said that Cheong "failed to take reasonable steps to ascertain the source of the monies received in the (bank) account", despite having "reasonable grounds" to suspect the arrangement involved criminal proceeds, reported ST.

The maximum penalty for entering into an arrangement to receive money without ascertaining its source is a jail term of three years, a fine of $50,000, or both.

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