The Police would like to alert the public to police impersonation scams involving the use of fake Singapore Police Force (SPF) website.
On 14 November 2017, the police received a report from a 60-year-old woman who informed that a sum of $80 000 had been transferred from her bank accounts without her knowledge. She had earlier received a call from someone claiming to be a police officer who informed that her bank accounts had been used for money laundering purposes and investigations were ongoing. She was told to provide her personal information and was warned not to share details of the investigations with others. The victim subsequently received a call from another person who directed her to a webpage resembling the SPF’s website. She was instructed to key in her bank account details and passwords while at the webpage. The victim later found out that a huge sum of money had been transferred from her bank accounts without her consent. Investigations are ongoing.
The screenshots below show the fake “E-Services” pages where such illicit phishing activities were perpetrated.
The Police would like to clarify that the official SPF website is www.police.gov.sg. Members of the public are 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.
The Police would also like to inform members of the public to be wary of befriending unknown persons online who may ask to use your bank account to either receive money or transfer money to someone else. You may be in the process of being recruited as a money mule. To prevent yourself from being recruited as a money mule, members of the public are advised to adopt the following crime prevention measures:
- Do not give your personal particulars or bank account details to strangers.
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Decline any request by acquaintance for money transfers – you might unwittingly be committing a crime by laundering money for another party.
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Report to the Police and the bank immediately if you suspect that you have received unknown monies in your account.
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If you are approached by anyone who claimed to be a Police officer, ask for the warrant card. If you are in doubt, please dial 999 for urgent Police assistance.
- If you have information related to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit the information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. Please dial ‘999’ if you require urgent Police assistance.
To seek scam-related advice, members of the public may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688. They are also advised to share this advisory with family and friends to prevent them from being the next scam victim.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
15 November 2017 @ 9:17 PM