The Police have arrested three men and one woman, aged between 28 and 30, for their suspected involvement in a series of China Officials Impersonation scams.
On 14 and 17 August 2018, the Police received reports that two women aged, 20 and 24, had been cheated in two separate cases. Both victims had received calls from unknown men who claimed to be Chinese Police investigators. The callers told the women that they were involved in a transnational money laundering crime and instructed them to withdraw all their savings. They were then told to hand the money to ‘Police agents’ in Singapore.
The 24-year-old woman handed over S$5,110 to a man along Holland Drive on 14 August 2018 while the 20-year-old woman handed over S$2,000 and RMB5,000 to him along Selegie Road on 16 August 2018. Both victims felt suspicious after parting with their cash and realised that they had been cheated.
Through investigations, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department established the identities of the suspects and arrested them on 17 August 2018 along Geylang Lorong 8 and Orchard Road.
The four suspects will be charged in court on 18 August 2018 with dishonestly receiving stolen property under Section 411(1) of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. If convicted, they each face an imprisonment term of up to 5 years, or fine, or both.
The Police would like to advise members of the public to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls to transfer money or provide personal information:
- Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions. No government agency will demand payment through an undocumented medium like a telephone call or other social messaging platforms (WeChat or Facebook); or ask you for personal banking information such as your internet banking passwords.
- For foreign residents receiving calls from persons claiming to be police officers or government officials from your home country, please call your Embassy/High Commission to verify the claims of the caller.
- Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on a 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. Do not make any funds transfer at the behest of such callers.
- Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. Do not be pressured by the caller to act impulsively.
- To seek scam-related advice, you may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
17 August 2018 @ 11:50 PM