Woman gave others control of bank accounts to launder $220k in illicit funds

Funds include over $82,000 in scam proceeds traceable to 16 victims

- Shaffiq Alkhatib

An elderly woman relinquished control of six bank accounts to others and illicit funds totaling more than $220,000 were later laundered through those accounts. The sum included over $82,000 in scam proceeds traceable to 16 victims.

Freelance tutor Low Mee Mee, 79, repeated her crimes several times despite being told by the police to stop.

She was sentenced to nine months and two weeks' jail on Feb 27 after pleading guilty to two counts of misusing a computer system.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jonathan Tan said: "Age is no excuse for behaving (as if she was) above the law. The accused was given numerous chances before prosecution was brought against her. Yet, time and again, she displayed clear disregard for the law.

"She kept repeating the same crimes despite being told unequivocally to stop, and, in doing so, she enabled scammers to cause losses to innocent individuals, and burdened law enforcement for more than a year in a game of cat and mouse."

In December 2021 or January 2022, Low responded to a moneylending advertisement on WhatsApp.

She asked to borrow $2,000 but the unknown moneylenders told her that the minimum loan amount was $3,000.