A Singapore-based company has reportedly lost more than US$36 million in a sophisticated business email compromise (BEC) scam after fraudsters impersonated the chairman of the company’s headquarters and manipulated senior executives into authorizing massive fund transfers.
According to Singapore authorities, the incident was among the major cases uncovered during “Operation Frontier+ III,” a multinational anti-scam operation conducted from March 10 to May 7 in collaboration with nine foreign law enforcement agencies.
Investigators said the scam began on April 9 when the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company received a WhatsApp call from an individual pretending to be the chairman of the firm’s headquarters. During the call, the scammer allegedly instructed the CEO to oversee what was described as a confidential acquisition project.
Believing the request to be legitimate, the CEO later directed the company’s chief financial officer (CFO) to arrange the necessary funding for the supposed transaction.
Between April 13 and April 17, a total of US$36.3 million was transferred from both the company’s overseas and Singapore-based bank accounts into two local accounts held with OCBC Bank.
Authorities disclosed that approximately US$27.1 million originated from the company’s Luxembourg subsidiary, while another US$9.7 million was transferred from the Singapore entity.
The case forms part of a broader international crackdown targeting transnational scam networks. In a statement released on May 20, the Singapore Police Force said Operation Frontier+ III resulted in the arrest of 3,018 suspects aged between 13 and 85, while another 7,553 individuals are under investigation for alleged involvement in more than 138,000 scam cases worldwide.
Police said the investigations involve estimated losses totaling about US$752 million.
Authorities also froze nearly 102,000 bank accounts linked to fraudulent activities, leading to the seizure of more than US$161 million believed to be proceeds of cyber-enabled crimes.
Cybersecurity experts are urging businesses to adopt stricter financial verification procedures, especially for high-value transactions, and to implement multi-layer approval systems, employee awareness training, and stronger authentication measures to reduce the risk of executive impersonation fraud.
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