The Police have arrested two men, aged 33 and 35, for their suspected involvement in an impersonation of Police officer scam.
On 1 August 2016, Police were alerted by a bank that one man was making suspicious transactions from his bank account while another man was observed to be acting as a lookout. Upon receipt of the information, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and Commercial Affairs Department followed up with intensive investigative probes and enquiries. Preliminary investigations established that on 26 July 2016, two female victims, aged 36 and 65, had received separate calls from unknown persons who claimed to be Police officers. The victims were informed that they were involved in illegal activities and were provided with a website to key in their personal details, internet banking credentials and One-Time Password (OTP) to be sent to the said “Police officers” for investigation purposes. Subsequently, the victims discovered that about S$30,200 had been transferred from their bank accounts to the suspect’s account via Internet-banking.
Through follow-up investigations, both suspects were arrested along Punggol Central on 1 August 2016.
The 35-year-old suspect will be charged in Court on 3 August 2016 with the offence of Dishonestly Receiving Stolen Property under Section 411(1) of the Penal Code, Chapter 224 which carries an imprisonment term of up to five years, or with fine, or with both. Investigations against the 33-year-old suspect are still ongoing.
The Police would like to advise members of public to adopt the following precautionary measures when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties:
a. Ignore the calls. Scammers may use Caller ID spoofing technology to mask the actual phone number and display a different number. Calls that appear to be from a local number may not actually be made from Singapore. If you receive a suspicious call from a local number, hang up, wait five minutes, then call the number back to check the validity of the request.
b. Ignore instructions to remit or transfer money. No government agency will inform you to make a payment through a telephone call, especially to a third party's bank account.
c. Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on the website or to callers over the phone. Personal information and bank details such as internet bank account usernames and passwords, OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals.
d. Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgment.
e. If you have information related to such crime or if you are in doubt, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or dial 999 for urgent Police assistance.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
02 August 2016 @ 10:00 PM