The Police have arrested a 53-year-old Taiwanese man for his suspected involvement in a case of impersonation of Police officer scam.
On 5 July 2017, the Police received a report from a 55-year-old woman who had received a call from an unknown person who claimed to be a Police officer. The victim was told that she was being investigated by the Police for money laundering offences. The call was then transferred to an unknown person who identified himself to be a Police officer from a foreign country.
The victim was provided a link to an e-service website purportedly from the Singapore Police Force, http://876545.tk. The victim was then instructed to key in her internet banking credentials on the website. Subsequently, the victim discovered that her bank account was accessed illegally without her knowledge and about S$225,000 had been transferred to unknown bank accounts.
Through extensive investigative enquiries, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department established the identity of the suspect and he was arrested on 6 July 2017. Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect is believed to be involved in at least ten other similar cases in which the victims had suffered losses amounting to a total of more than S$800,000.
The suspect will be charged in Court on 8 July 2017 for 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.
The Police would like to clarify that the official SPF website can be accessed at www.police.gov.sg. Members of the public are also advised to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties:
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgment.
-
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.
To seek scam-related advice, members of the public may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg. Please share this advisory with your family and friends to prevent them from being the next scam victim.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
07 July 2017 @ 9:45 PM