SINGAPORE: Two men were arrested in Kuala Lumpur and returned to the Singapore police after they allegedly stole about S$134,000 (US$100,800) from a money changer along Serangoon Road.
The alleged offence took place on Dec 2 last year, said the Singapore Police Force in a news release on Thursday (Jul 27).
The two men, aged 36 and 70, were said to have approached the money changer on the pretext of exchanging Singapore dollars to euros and US dollars.
When presented with €25,000 and US$70,000 (equivalent to about S$134,000 in total), one of the men placed the money into a bag with a number lock attached. But he left the bag at the money changer and said he was going to withdraw Singapore dollars for the currency exchange.
Upon returning, the men requested for the money changer to verify the amounts of €25,000 and US$70,000.
During the process, they were believed to have swapped the genuine notes with counterfeit notes. The men then left with the bag containing the genuine notes, stating that they would return to complete the transaction.
When the two men did not return after a few hours, the money changer opened the black bag and discovered that only one €200 note, one €500 note, and one US$100 note were genuine. The other notes were purportedly counterfeit notes.