Han Shan Money Express Pte Ltd has foiled a scam attempt involving $1,900. This is the second successful scam foiled by the company within a week.
On 6 September 2016 at about 1.05 pm, the Police were alerted by Ms Zhang Lei, a staff from Han Shan Money Express Pte Ltd to a suspected case of cheating. Upon the receipt of report, officers from Central Division and Commercial Affairs Department responded to the case and ascertained that a 30-year-old woman had been scammed into remitting $1,900 to an overseas account.
Investigations revealed that on 6 September 2016 at about 8.00 am, the victim received a call from a lady who claimed to be from SingPost. The lady informed the victim that she had sent a parcel containing counterfeit items and the parcel had been intercepted by the Shanghai Police. The victim was advised to lodge a report with the Shanghai Police if she had not sent the parcel. The call was then transferred to someone else claiming to be from the Shanghai Police who told the victim that she was involved in money laundering activity and instructed her to report to the office the next day or she would be arrested by authorities in Singapore. The victim was next instructed to remit money to a bank account in China.
At the remittance company, Ms Zhang, who attended to the victim suspected that something was amiss and she informed her supervisor who notified the Police. Due to the timely intervention by Ms Zhang, a sum amounting to $1,900 was recovered.
This case highlights the strong Police-Community partnership in crime fighting. The Police would like to commend Ms Zhang Lei for her timely intervention that helped in foiling the scam attempt.
The Police would like to advise members of the public to adopt the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties:
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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.
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Ignore instruction 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.
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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.
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Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgment.
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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
07 September 2016 @ 12:45 PM