Singapore, March 10: An Indian-origin teenager was on Friday charged with one count of cheating and one count of abetting an unknown person to secure unauthorised access to a bank's computer system which laundered money amounting to more than SGD 249,000, according to a media report.

Mathana Raaj Singh engaged in a conspiracy to cheat UOB Bank by deceiving the bank into believing that he was the sole operator of the bank account that he had opened in May last year, reported The Straits Times newspaper. The UOB account he opened was then allegedly used by scam syndicates to launder criminal proceeds of more than SGD 249,000.

Singh, 19, then allegedly gave his i-banking login credentials to an unknown person for the purpose of effecting transactions on the UOB computer system without authorisation, the report said, citing the court documents.

The police said the teenager opened a bank account and allowed others to use it after reading about a cash loan being offered in exchange for bank account details on the messaging platform - Telegram, it said. The boy had responded to the Telegram message in May 2022. Indian-origin Man Convicted for Trying to Evade UK Cannabis Laws.

On Friday, Singh indicated his intention to apply for legal aid. If found guilty of cheating, he can be jailed for up to three years, fined, or both. If he is found guilty of the second charge, he can be jailed for up to two years, fined up to SGD 5,000, or both. He will next appear in court on April 6.