A Malaysian man has become the first money mule to be sentenced to caning since caning for scams and scam-related offences came into effect on Dec 30, 2025.On Wednesday (April 29), Yap Ching Gun, 23, was convicted of money laundering, having collected cash from an elderly victim of an investment scam in Singapore. He was sentenced to seven months' jail and one stroke of the cane.Yap had been recruited via Telegram by an unknown person to collect money from the victim, who had been duped into handing over the cash. The victim believed the funds would be deposited as investment capital in a fictitious investment brokerage firm named Maplerock.Yap collected at least JPY1,000,000 (S$8,198) from the victim and handed the money over to an unknown man.The police said in a news release after his sentencing that Yap's case marks the first instance of caning being imposed on a person convicted of money laundering under the amended Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.  Read more