On 11 January 2017, the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) held its inaugural Appreciation Awards Ceremony to recognize the efforts of companies which have collaborated and worked with the Police to prevent crime.
A total of 42 individuals from 14 organizations received awards for their vigilance and timely intervention in preventing victims from falling prey to scams in 2016. The 14 organizations include banks, remittances agencies and convenience stores. Please refer to Annex A for more details.
In 2016, several cases of scams were foiled through the intervention of the public. A majority of these cases were related to the DHL phone impersonation scams where members of the public received calls from persons claiming to be customs officers, police officers or government officials from China and were instructed to remit monies to China. As a result of the interventions, more than $1 million was successfully intercepted.
The SPF will continue to fight scams by increasing enforcement, inter-agency collaborations, international cooperation with overseas police forces and community engagement. The SPF will continue to educate members of the public of prevailing crime trends so that they can exercise vigilance, especially when communicating with strangers through the phone or online media such as social networking sites.
The public are encouraged to visit Scamalert.sg, a dedicated website on scams, to get updates on the latest trends. Members of the public can also share their personal scam experiences on Scamalert.sg so that others can learn and increase their vigilance when faced with a similar situation.
In addition, the National Crime Prevention Council launched the Anti-Scam helpline, 1800-722-6688 in November 2016. Members of the public can call the helpline to seek advice on scams.
At the award ceremony, Director of CAD, Mr David Chew said, “Scam tactics are ever changing as criminals use a variety of tactics to deceive their victims. However, if all of us stay vigilant and play an active role to help prevent scams, Singapore will be a safer home for everyone.”
Director of CAD, Mr David Chew taking a group photo with the award recipients and guests.
Mr Kelvin Low and Ms Alyssa Low of DBS Bank receiving the award from Director CAD, Mr David Chew.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
11 January 2017 @ 3:30 PM