The Police are aware that some members of the public have received phone calls that were purportedly made by officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
The calls were made in both English and Mandarin through an automated operator system and recipients will be asked to press either ‘1’ or ‘2’ for the call to be transferred to an operator, who would then ask them to provide their name, NRIC number, nationality and other personal details for verification purpose. In some cases, the recipients were also threatened with legal action should they fail to comply with instructions.
The Police would like to clarify that these calls were not made by officers from government agencies. Such calls are typical scammers’ tactics where caller ID spoofing technology may be used to mask the actual phone number and a different number is displayed. Members of the public are advised to take the following precautions if they receive calls which employ such automated operator systems:
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Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions
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Do not provide your name, identification number, passport details, contact details, bank account, credit card details or other banking information such as usernames, passwords etc. Such information are useful to criminals.
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No government agency will request for personal details or transfer of money over the phone or through automated voice machines.
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When in doubt, call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722 6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg
Members of the public may call the Police hotline at 1800-255 0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness should they have any related information, and dial ‘999’ only if urgent Police assistance is required.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
18 May 2018 @ 6:30 PM