SINGAPORE: A Malaysian man who joined a Telegram chat group for "job opportunities" was soon given instructions to collect illicit items, which wound up with him collecting 1,600 gold bars from a scam victim.The gold bars, worth more than S$412,000 (about US$319,200), were taken to Malaysia and have not been recovered. No restitution was made to the victim, a 54-year-old Singaporean woman, who had fallen for a government impersonation scam and thought she was a suspect in money laundering.Turah Raju Subramaniam, a 39-year-old Malaysian man, was sentenced to jail for 38 months – or three years and two months – on Tuesday (Jul 21).He pleaded guilty to a charge of assisting another person to retain benefits from criminal conduct.THE CASEThe court heard that Turah was introduced by a friend in Malaysia to potential job opportunities in Singapore.When he indicated his interest, he was added to a chat group on the Telegram application and given instructions.Turah said he was promised S$50 for each job and given 1,600 ringgit (about S$500) to be split with his friend for food and transport.On Nov 6, 2025, Turah was instructed to enter Singapore and go to Kranji MRT station.A taxi was booked for him and he was given a photo of a middle-aged Chinese man. He followed instructions to send a photo of himself to the Telegram group.When Turah alighted at an unidentified location, he met the Chinese man in the photo.The man handed him an envelope, which he did not open as instructed.However, Turah asked the man what was in the envelope and was told it was cash.He felt "funny" about this, because the envelope felt thick. Later, he admitted that he knew the cash must have been illegally obtained.Turah then took another taxi that had been booked for him and handed the envelope to another person.After this, Turah supposedly told the Telegram group that he wanted to return to Malaysia.However, he made no efforts to do so. He was later told that transport would be arranged for him to head back to Malaysia if he collected one more bag.THE VICTIMThe bag was to be collected from the victim, a 54-year-old Singaporean woman.She had received a call from a purported bank's anti-fraud department, which claimed that she was the victim of identity theft.She was also told that fraudulent transactions of S$5,400 had been made, and the matter needed to be escalated to the Ministry of Law, which could assist her with making a police report.The call was transferred to someone claiming to be a senior investigating officer from the ministry, who told the woman that she was now a suspect in a money laundering case.She was sent documents that purportedly showed she was under a warrant of arrest and an asset-freezing order.The victim began panicking and was told she could be protected under a "priority financial check", which would change her status from suspect to witness.She was transferred to another person claiming to be a police officer. This person told her to transfer S$1 million from her bank account to her credit card.The woman did so while being instructed by the person and sharing her screen.She was then told to buy 2,000 grams of gold bars using her credit card at Mustafa Centre in Little India to fulfil the priority financial check requirements.She was told that a plainclothes officer named Bala Krishnan bearing the ID number BK 1505 would collect the gold bars from her. She was given a description of Turah.The victim complied and bought 1,600 24K gold bars worth S$412,791.Turah, who was told to meet a "Chinese auntie" at an entrance and given a photo of the victim, headed to Mustafa Centre for his "last job".He saw the victim pushing a trolley with five bags and approached her, saying "Bala Krishnan BK 1505".The victim handed him the five bags containing the gold bars. Turah headed to a designated car waiting at a nearby car park.The vehicle headed straight to Malaysia and Turah handed the driver the five bags containing the gold bars after arriving in the country.He was later arrested in November 2025 when he tried to enter Singapore again.The prosecution sought 42 to 44 months' jail for Turah, saying he had travelled into Singapore to collect the gold bars from a scam victim, "driven by self-interest and indifferent to the potential nefarious purposes" of his instructors."His actions, which facilitated this substantial scam, are emblematic of why the scourge of scams continues unabated in Singapore," the prosecution said.It added that Turah was working for a criminal syndicate that was sufficiently organised to arrange transport for him at every turn and effectively communicate remote instructions.For assisting another person to retain benefits from criminal conduct, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years or fined up to S$500,000, or both.