A 35-year-old man has been arrested for attempting to extort $500,000 from Standard Chartered Bank. Photos of items seized from suspect: Singapore Police Force

A 35-year-old man has been arrested for attempting to extort $500,000 from Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart).

The police said they received a call from StanChart last Thursday (27 September) informing that the bank had received anonymous emails demanding the sum in exchange for non-leakage of confidential information belonging to the bank.

The man was arrested by police officers along Kovan Road on Sunday.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that the man is believed to have used multiple fictitious email accounts to deliver the emails. He is also believed to have used overseas registered mobile lines and ‘Virtual Private Network’ services to mask his identity to evade detection,” the police said in a statement.

Several laptops and mobile phones were seized from the man in relation to the case.

The man will be charged on Tuesday with attempted extortion, which carries an jail term of between two years and five years and with caning.

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