In a ceremony held at the Police Cantonment Complex today, three staff members from two remittance agencies located at People’s Park Complex were commended for their efforts in preventing victims from falling prey to China Officials Impersonation Scams.
In the first incident, a 61-year-old victim received a phone call from an unknown man claiming to be from the Chinese Police in the morning of 8 September 2017. The man accused the victim of committing money laundering and instructed the victim to remit S$15,000 to a Chinese bank account as an assurance fee while the Chinese Police investigate the matter. The victim was told to state her purpose of remittance as ‘property investment’ when at the remittance agency. This is a common characteristic of the China Officials Impersonation Scam.
When the victim arrived at Zhongguo Remittance Pte Ltd in the morning on the same day, Miss Li Fang attended to her. Miss Li observed that the victim appeared very flustered and could not provide details on the purported investment in China. Suspecting that the victim could have been scammed, Miss Li contacted the Commercial Affairs Department (‘CAD’) of the Singapore Police Force. Officers from CAD managed to convince the victim that this was an impersonation scam and the victim did not proceed with the remittance.
In the second incident, a 75-year-old victim similarly received a phone call from an unknown man claiming to be a Police investigator from China. He told the victim that she was a suspect in a transnational fraud investigated by the Chinese Police. He said that he could expedite the probe to clear her name if the victim were to transfer a refundable deposit to a Chinese bank account for further investigations.
When the victim told the caller that she did not know how to remit cash overseas, he directed her to meet a female Chinese subject who brought her to Samlit Moneychanger Pte Ltd (‘Samlit’) located at People’s Park Complex on 8 September 2017. The victim was instructed by the caller to tell the remittance staff that she was sending S$40,000 to her relative in China to buy a house.
Mr Sameer Malik, who was on duty at Samlit observed that the victim was anxious. When Mr Sameer asked her for details about her relative or the property purchase, she was unable to answer him. He alerted his supervisor, Miss Novianti immediately. As Miss Novianti suspected that the customer may have been scammed, she called CAD for advice. CAD officers responded and similarly confirmed that the victim was being scammed. As a result of Mr Sameer Malik and Miss Novianti’s vigilance, the victim did not lose the S$40,000 that she had wanted to remit. Miss Novianti also provided valuable information on the female subject who accompanied the victim to Samlit.
CAD officers acted on the information and arrested a 50-year-old Singaporean woman on the same day for attempting to cheat the victim. Investigations are ongoing.
Director CAD, Mr David Chew praised Miss Li Fang, Mr Sameer Malik and Miss Novianti for their alertness and public spiritedness when performing their duties at the remittance counters. He said, “As scammers are constantly finding new ways to target and cheat their victims, the Police and the public must work hand in hand to actively prevent scams. I commend Miss Li Fang, Mr Sameer Malik and Miss Novianti for their vigilance and public spiritedness. Their efforts prevented 2 victims from falling prey to the criminals and are a strong testament to the close partnership between the Police and its stakeholders in fighting crime.”
The Police would like to advise members of the public to adopt 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.
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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.
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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.
- 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
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
20 September 2017 @ 10:30 AM