He sat in that call centre and made the calls that initiated the fraud.
From a compound in Phnom Penh, a syndicate built what amounted to an industrial architecture of deception — 535 phone calls, 535 acts of trust violated, S$53 million quietly redirected from ordinary lives into criminal hands. A 30-year-old Singaporean, Ngiam Siow Jui, spent seven months as a fugitive before being arrested on arrival back in Singapore and charged under the Organised Crime Act. His capture is a single thread pulled from a much larger weave: 31 suspects remain at large, including the alleged architect of the entire operation, and the question of full accountability hangs unresolved over hundreds of victims who have already absorbed their losses.
- A Cambodia-based fraud syndicate ran what was effectively a call centre of deception, systematically defrauding at least 535 Singaporeans of S$53 million before authorities moved against its Phnom Penh compound in September 2025.
- When the compound was raided, the network scattered — 34 suspects were identified as wanted, and most vanished across borders, leaving investigators to pursue an operation that had already done its damage.
- Ngiam Siow Jui, a scam caller who physically made the fraudulent calls, spent seven months evading capture before returning to Singapore and being arrested on arrival on May 4, 2026.
- INTERPOL red notices have been issued for two core members, Jonathan Boneta and Lee Ding Hao, signaling that the manhunt has formally gone global and that borders are now theoretically harder to disappear behind.
- Yet 31 suspects — including alleged syndicate leader Ng Wei Liang — remain free, and the hundreds of victims who lost their savings have no guarantee that the full network will ever be dismantled.
Ngiam Siow Jui spent seven months as a fugitive. Marked as wanted by the Singapore Police Force in October 2025, he was one of 34 suspects tied to a fraud syndicate operating out of Phnom Penh — a network that had, with methodical precision, defrauded at least 535 people in Singapore of approximately S$53 million. He fled to Cambodia, where the syndicate itself was headquartered. On May 4, 2026, he returned to Singapore and was arrested on arrival.
The syndicate's operation was not improvised. From a compound in Cambodia's capital, members orchestrated hundreds of fraud cases through phone calls designed to deceive and extract. Singaporean and Cambodian authorities had moved against the compound in September 2025, disrupting the machinery — but by then, the network had already scattered. Ngiam's role was that of a scam caller: he made the calls, initiated the fraud, and on May 6 was formally charged under the Organised Crime Act for conduct he knew would facilitate cheating.
He was not the leader. The alleged head of the syndicate, Ng Wei Liang, remains at large, as do 30 others from the original list of suspects. Two members — Jonathan Boneta and Lee Ding Hao — were significant enough that INTERPOL red notices were issued against them in March 2026, extending the manhunt across international borders. The 535 victims, or at least those who reported their losses, have already absorbed the financial blow. Ngiam's arrest closes one chapter, but the larger reckoning remains unfinished.
Ngiam Siow Jui spent seven months running. In October 2025, the Singapore Police Force had marked him as wanted—one of 34 suspects connected to a sprawling fraud operation that had systematically stripped millions from people across Singapore. He made it to Phnom Penh, where the syndicate itself was headquartered in a compound that had become, by September, the subject of a coordinated takedown by both Singaporean and Cambodian authorities. On May 4, 2026, he arrived back in Singapore. He was arrested on arrival.
The operation he worked for was industrial in its scale and precision. From their base in Cambodia's capital, the syndicate had orchestrated at least 535 separate fraud cases, each one a phone call, each one a lie, each one resulting in money moving from a victim's account to the network's control. The total haul: approximately S$53 million. The Singapore Police Force and the Cambodian National Police had moved against the compound in September 2025, disrupting the machinery, but the network had already scattered. Thirty-four people were identified as needing to be found. Ngiam was one of them.
His role was straightforward and crucial: he was a scam caller. He sat in that call centre in Phnom Penh around September 9, 2025, and made the calls that initiated the fraud. On May 6, 2026, he was formally charged under the Organised Crime Act—specifically, for engaging in conduct he knew would facilitate cheating. The charge reflects the organized nature of what he was part of, the deliberate structure, the knowledge that this was not improvisation but system.
But Ngiam was not the architect. The alleged leader of the syndicate, a Singaporean named Ng Wei Liang, remains at large. So do 30 others from the initial list of 34 suspects. Two of them—Jonathan Boneta, 27, and Lee Ding Hao, 33—were significant enough that the Singapore Police Force published INTERPOL red notices against them on March 25, 2026. Both men are believed to be members of the core operation. Both are currently outside Singapore.
The manhunt is international now. Red notices mean that law enforcement agencies across the world have been alerted, that borders have become theoretically harder to cross, that the network cannot simply dissolve into the background. But 31 people remain unaccounted for, and the alleged leader is still free. The victims—535 of them, or at least 535 reported cases—have already lost their money. The investigation continues, but the scale of what was taken, and how many people were involved in taking it, suggests that even with Ngiam's arrest, the full accounting of this operation is far from complete.
Citações Notáveis
Charged under the Organised Crime Act for engaging in conduct which he knew would facilitate the commission of cheating, by being a scam caller in a call centre in Phnom Penh around Sep 9, 2025.— Singapore Police Force charging statement
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a scam operation need to be based in Cambodia rather than Singapore itself?
Distance and jurisdiction. If you're calling from Cambodia, the technical infrastructure is harder for Singapore police to immediately access. The Cambodian authorities have to be involved, which adds layers. It buys time, creates complications.
But Ngiam came back to Singapore. Why would he do that?
We don't know if he chose to. He may have been extradited, or he may have been trying to move through Singapore to somewhere else. The report says he was arrested on arrival, which suggests he didn't know he was wanted, or he was caught in transit.
Thirty-one people still at large. That's a lot of people to coordinate across borders.
It is. Which tells you something about the network's sophistication. These aren't random fraudsters. They have logistics, safe houses probably, money moving through channels. The alleged leader being free suggests the core of the operation is still intact.
What happens to the victims now?
Legally, they're witnesses. Financially, most of that money is gone. Recovery is possible in theory, but when you're talking about S$53 million spread across 535 cases, and the money has moved through Cambodia and possibly beyond, the practical reality is harsh.
Is charging Ngiam a victory or a small piece of a much larger problem?
Both. It's a victory in that you've removed one operator and you have proof of the network's existence. But with 31 still out there and the leader free, it's also a reminder of how much work remains.