Four men, aged 38 to 44, have been jailed by the District Court four to six years for fraud-related charges. The total loss suffered by the victims was about $238,000.

The four were members of a criminal syndicate which was neutralised last November.

Between August and November last year, the 38-year-old man obtained the personal particulars of victims, including their addresses, telephone numbers and specimen signatures of authorised signatories and company chops from public records or other unknown sources.

The four then forwarded the victims' company telephone calls to a phone number controlled by the syndicate to prevent bank staff from verifying the transactions.

The other three defendants then opened bank accounts, and submitted false authorisation letters, forged remittance application forms and cheques to withdraw or transfer money from victims' accounts.