The case, disclosed by the Singapore Police Force on May 20, was part of a two-month transnational anti-scam operation involving 10 jurisdictions, Mothership reported.
The CEO received the WhatsApp call on April 9 from a scammer posing as the chairman of his firm's headquarters, who instructed him to take charge of an acquisition project, according to the police. The CEO subsequently directed his chief financial officer to arrange the funding.
Between April 13 and 17, a total of $36.3 million was moved from the company's overseas and local bank accounts into two local OCBC accounts. Of that sum, $27.1 million originated from the firm's Luxembourg subsidiary and $9.7 million from its Singapore entity, The Straits Times reported.
The fraud was uncovered on April 17 only after the CEO verified the purported acquisition with the actual chairman. By then, approximately $26.5 million had already been wired out to bank accounts in Hong Kong. The Anti-Scam Centre of the Singapore Police Force seized the $9.7 million still sitting in the local accounts and contacted Hong Kong's Anti-Deception Coordination Centre, which led to the recovery of more than $11.1 million from Hong Kong bank accounts and associated cryptocurrency wallets.
