The Police have received close to 400 reports, from members of public who received scam phone calls alleging that their personal particulars have been used for illegal activities overseas.
Members of public first received calls from persons claiming to be employees of courier companies or banks in China and were told that their identities were used to send parcels containing fake passports or weapons, or were used to apply for overseas credit cards. They were then referred to another caller claiming to be a customs officer, a police officer or a government official from China and asked to provide their personal particulars including name, identification number, address, passport number and bank account numbers. Some complainants were threatened with legal action and were instructed to remit monies to China so that the authorities would not pursue the matter.
Till date, victims have lost more than S$1,000 000 to this scam.
Police advise members of public to take precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties:
- Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions.
- Do not provide name, identification number, passport details, contact details, bank account or credit card details to the callers. Such information are useful to criminals.
- Do not make any funds transfers. No government agency will instruct payment through a telephone call and direct you to pay to a third party’s bank account.
If you have any information related to such crime, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255 0000, or dial ‘999’ for urgent Police assistance.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
16 April 2016 @ 11:50 AM