44-year-old Singaporean woman jailed for helping Malaysia-based Nigerian boyfriend receive money from scams

A 44-year-old unemployed Singaporean woman, Hasanah Abdullah, who pleaded guilty to two counts each of assisting another person to retain benefits of criminal conduct, removing the ill-gotten gains out of Singapore and dishonestly receiving stolen property which she earned a commission for, was on Wednesday, Aug 30 sentenced to 29 months in jail for knowingly helping her Malaysia-based Nigerian boyfriend receive money from scams.

It was gathered that Hasanah, committed the offences between April 2014 and June 2015, after she moved to Malaysia in 2013 and fell in love with Richard Osaza after meeting him there. In December 2013, he asked her to provide him with bank accounts in Singapore to receive monies on his behalf – purportedly for his clothing business.

However, when she asked, he was unable to show her any proof of it. Despite this, she agreed to help, and allowed him to use her bank accounts.

Between April 19 and Dec 30, 2014, Hasanah allowed Osza to make use of bank accounts belonging to both her and her daughter. Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Yonghui said:

“As Hasanah continued to receive money for Richard, Hasanah suspected that Richard was, in fact, a scammer and the money that she was receiving on his behalf were the benefits of his criminal conduct.

“Hasanah’s suspicion turned out to be correct as Richard subsequently introduced Hasanah to a number of his Nigerian friends who were all scammers.”

She earned between $50,000 and $60,000 in commission, and according to court documents, Hasanah received $416,370.63 and transferred $305,307.63 in all. The victims’ monies have not been recovered, the court heard.

 Strait Times Singapore reports that for each count of assisting another person to retain benefits of criminal conduct, she could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to $500,000.