When the banks are breached from within: Why greed must never be normalised in ASEAN

And what is greed, if not the confusion between one’s needs and lust? Greed distorts. It blurs boundaries. It masquerades as ambition. But left unchecked, it devastates the moral, economic, and social fabric of entire societies.

This is not just a Singaporean problem. This is a wake-up call for all of ASEAN.

Singapore’s financial system is regularly held up as a global benchmark—lauded for its transparency, technological prowess, and strong anti-money laundering (AML) architecture. Yet in recent years, the city-state has found itself repeatedly in the headlines not for the strength of its oversight, but for the magnitude of criminal proceeds it has inadvertently harboured.

In this particular case, the convicted woman helped launder hundreds of millions of illicit dollars, including cyber scam proceeds originating from multiple jurisdictions. For her cooperation, she earned only S$170,000—a pittance when compared to the magnitude of the financial carnage enabled. Her complicity, intentional or not, opened the floodgates to networks trafficking in human despair, fraud, and deception.

In a disturbing twist, such cases no longer shock. They’ve become normalized, rationalised, even marketed by the underworld as a “side hustle.” This is where the deeper crisis lies—not in the mechanics of laundering but in the erosion of values.

ASEAN cannot afford to let this culture metastasize. When our citizens begin to view cyber fraud as a fast track to wealth, we will not just lose our financial integrity; we will lose the future.

We must reject the hollow mantra made famous by fictional financiers and dangerous populists—that “greed is good.” It is not.

Greed is morally corrosive. It replaces ethical boundaries with transactional logic. It says: “If no one sees it, it doesn’t matter.” But it does. For every dollar stolen or laundered, a trust is broken. A family is shattered. A system is weakened.

This blurring of boundaries is how Southeast Asia—despite its many developmental successes—risks backsliding into dysfunction. Because greed, unlike corruption, is not always illegal. It can be institutionalised. It can wear a tie, flash a smile, and sit behind a bank terminal or shell company. But its impact is just as ruinous.

While Singapore takes the spotlight in this case, the shadow it casts is regional. Across the region, cyber scams have taken root in the post-pandemic digital boom:

• In Malaysia, online financial frauds surged in 2023, with phishing, investment scams, and mule accounts undermining public trust in the banking system.

• Thailand continues to dismantle networks of fake investment and love scams, many of which are traced back to regional syndicates operating across borders.

• In Vietnam, authorities have ramped up counter-scamming legislation as criminal groups expand beyond fake job ads to deepfake financial impersonation.

• The Philippines faces daily alerts from its Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG), especially over fraudulent e-commerce and crypto-related scams.

• Indonesia is contending with rising online loan scams and illegal data harvesting, with major dark web connections exposed in 2024.

But perhaps most alarmingly, Myanmar has emerged as the epicentre of digital slavery. In towns like KK Park, Shwe Kokko, and Myawaddy, entire scam complexes—camouflaged as Special Economic Zones—employ trafficked workers to conduct elaborate crypto, gambling, and romance frauds, often under violent coercion.

The survival of these operations depends not just on the scam syndicates but on those who launder the proceeds—mules, shell operators, or even seemingly legitimate SMEs.

Singapore’s status as a global financial hub has come under renewed scrutiny. In 2023, a historic S$3 billion money laundering case involving foreigners from Fujian, China revealed how luxury real estate, vehicles, and gold bars became fronts for digital crimes. That scandal showed that even world-class systems can be seduced by appearances and blinded by greed dressed up as legitimate prosperity.

When ordinary citizens start believing they can open bank accounts, earn commission, and look away from the origins of the funds—they become pawns in a global network of digital destruction.

Governments must regulate beneficial ownership with real teeth, not just paperwork. Shell companies with no business activities must be dismantled swiftly.

Banks must re-educate frontliners to spot behavioural anomalies—not just tick off KYC checklists.

Institutions like Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Bank Negara Malaysia should invest in more predictive, AI-driven screening technologies to better monitor unusual flows.

ASEAN needs to adopt an integrated AML-CFT clearinghouse, with real-time information exchange.

Launderers thrive in jurisdictional shadows. Only transparency can eliminate them.

Public awareness campaigns—especially among the young—must challenge the perception that fast money is “smart money.” Platforms like the ASEAN Cybersecurity Cooperation Strategy and Interpol ASEAN Cybercrime Operations Desk should be leveraged not just for technical cooperation but for grassroots-level education.

The moral compass of ASEAN cannot afford to spin aimlessly. We need new coordinates—rooted in civilisational values, not quarterly profits or algorithmic gains.

Let us remember: Greed is not just a private failing. It becomes a public catastrophe when legitimised by silence or institutional blindness.

The woman sentenced in Singapore may not have understood the full extent of the networks she was aiding. But that is no longer a viable excuse in this age of hyperconnectivity. Every digital transfer is traceable. Every fraudulent act carries echoes that ripple across families, nations, and futures.

Singapore, and by extension ASEAN, must choose: continue to pretend that white-collar crime is victimless—or confront the brutal reality that enabling scams is not just a breach of trust, but a betrayal of civilisation itself.

When banks become accomplices—intentionally or through omission—we must act. But when ordinary citizens become conduits for crime, lured by greed masked as gain, then we face an even greater challenge: reclaiming the ethics of everyday life.

The answer lies not just in better compliance or stiffer jail terms. It lies in us.

Because when greed becomes the norm, we all become poorer—even when our bank accounts grow.

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Phar Kim Beng is Director of the Institute of Internationalization and ASEAN Studies (IINTAS), Professor of ASEAN Studies in International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) and a former Head Teaching Fellow at Harvard University.