Overview
- Prosecutors presented detailed evidence in court this week showing the syndicate used a three‑line caller structure where line one posed as bank staff, line two posed as Monetary Authority of Singapore officers, and line three posed as law enforcement to coerce victims into transferring funds.
- The defendant, De Villar Rizalyn Panganiban, 35, is charged with membership of a locally linked organised criminal group and conspiracy to cheat and has pleaded not guilty.
- Court documents record that De Villar was recruited in March 2025 for work in Phnom Penh, trained as a caller, left for a related centre in Vientiane in April and was offered pay packages that tied commissions to money taken from victims.
- Prosecutors argued she had phone and internet access, freedom of movement and willingly travelled between scam centres, evidence they say undercuts a trafficking defence; the defence says she accepted the job under false pretences and stayed only to raise money to return home.
- Singapore and Cambodian police disrupted the ring in September 2025 and linked it to at least 330 reported victim cases with losses of over S$40 million, highlighting the cross‑border nature of government‑impersonation scams and the legal challenge of proving coercion versus complicity.