Eleven men and two women, aged between 17 and 33, were arrested for their suspected involvement in providing fraudulently registered SIM cards for monetary gains.

Another two men and three women, aged between 20 and 30, are assisting with investigations.

This followed an island-wide anti-scam enforcement operation conducted by officers from the Anti-Scam Command between Feb 18 and 24 targeting errant subscribers who registered postpaid SIM cards for scams.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the 13 arrested were allegedly offered either cash or online gambling credits in return for handing over between 10 to 30 SIM cards for criminal activities such as scams.

Police investigations are ongoing against the 18 persons.

The offence of knowingly providing a fraudulently registered SIM card to another person to facilitate a crime for any gain carries a fine not exceeding $10,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.

Police said that criminal syndicates exploit local SIM cards and eSIMs as an anonymous channel of communication for illicit activities such as scams, unlicensed moneylending and vice.