By admin 
UNKNOWN CUSTOMERS BUY GOLD
On September 15, 2023, an elderly woman wearing a face mask visited Kim Heng and said she wanted to buy 200 to 300 grams of gold on behalf of her son.
An employee, Ms. Kang Yit Hooi, showed her various gold jewelry. The woman took photos of the jewelry and reportedly sent them to her son over the phone.
The woman then told Ms Kang that she wanted to buy a gold rope chain worth S$28,000 and would pay via PayNow.
When Ms. Kang processed the payment, she noticed that the payer was an entity called Globe Eximport, which had a unique entity number.
This was in fact a compromised company account, Mr Tan told the court.
He said Ms Kang had reason to suspect money laundering given the large transaction amount and the corporate identity of the payer, while the customer and the person who allegedly instructed the customer to buy gold were both natural persons.
However, Ms. Kang did not conduct the required customer due diligence.
The next day, the elderly woman’s alleged son contacted Ms Kang via WhatsApp and said he wanted to buy more gold.
When Ms. Kang said she was not working and that her colleagues might not be able to care for him, he insisted that he had to buy gold that day and that his so-called mother would pick up the purchases.
Ms. Kang referred customers to her colleague, Ms. Sheila Lo Mohd Miza.
The older woman returned to the store later that day and Ms. Lo showed her various pieces of jewelry. She bought six gold chains and a gold pendant worth S$173,295.
When the woman paid via PayNow, Ms Lo also noticed that the payer was Globe Eximport and had reason to suspect money laundering, Mr Tan said.
“At the time, (Ms Lo)’s concern was to ensure that the transaction went through and that the accused was not defrauded.
“(Ms. Kang) also did not ask any questions for fear of being scolded by (the two customers) and losing their case,” the prosecutor said.
On October 2, 2023, the alleged son contacted Ms Kang again to purchase a gold bar and gold chain worth S$112,332.
When Ms. Kang made the transaction, the man repeatedly harassed her to process the payments faster. Once again, it did not conduct any due diligence.
The man contacted Ms Kang again on October 3, 2023 to purchase more gold, and his alleged mother went to the store to collect the purchases again.
But this time, Mr. Ho decided to ask the older woman for her ID card. The woman replied that she had to go to the toilet and left the store without returning.
The identities of the older woman and man – the alleged mother and son – have yet to be determined.
The matter came to light after reports were filed about the malware scam.