The Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Cambodian National Police (CNP) launched joint investigations and traced two victims of staged kidnap scam in two separate cases on 21 and 25 October 2022.
In the first case, the Police received a report on 19 October 2022 that a 21-year-old man had allegedly been kidnapped. He is a university student in Singapore and has been residing in Singapore for at least four years. The parents of the victim, who were based in China, received a video of the victim with his hands bound and numerous ransom demands from an unknown person. Fearing for their son’s safety, they made a police report in Singapore. Officers from Tanglin Division, Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Commercial Affairs Department conducted extensive searches and investigations to locate the victim and established that he had left Singapore. On 21 October 2022, with assistance from the CNP as well as the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the victim was located at Phnom Penh and reunited with his family.
Investigations revealed that while in Singapore, the victim had received an unsolicited call from a scammer who claimed to be a police officer from China. The scammer informed the victim that his particulars had been misused to spread misinformation about monkeypox cases in China. The scammer demanded that the victim assists in the Chinese Police’s investigations and tasked the victim to travel to Cambodia to carry out certain missions as part of their investigations. Upon the victim’s arrival in Phnom Penh, the victim was instructed by the scammer to record videos of himself masquerading as a kidnap victim for the purposes of scam education and investigations. He was also instructed to stay at different hotels and to cease all communication with his family and friends. The scammer then misused these videos, sending them to the victim’s parents to demand a ransom of RMB 2,000,000. No ransom was paid.
In the second case, the Police received a report on 22 October 2022 that a 22-year-old man had allegedly been kidnapped. The victim is a university student in Singapore and had been residing in Singapore for at least three years. The victim’s parents, who were based in China, received a video of the victim with his hands bound, along with ransom demands from an unknown person communicating in Mandarin. The victim’s parents similarly lodged a police report in Singapore. Officers from Ang Mo Kio Division, Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Commercial Affairs Department conducted extensive searches and investigations to locate the victim and established that he had left Singapore. On 25 October 2022, with assistance from the CNP as well as the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the victim was located at a hotel located at Phnom Penh, Cambodia and reunited with his family.
Investigations revealed that while in Singapore, the victim had also received an unsolicited call from a scammer who claimed to be a police officer from China. The victim was accused of having a mobile number registered in his name that was associated in the spread of COVID-19-related rumours in Guangdong, China. The scammer demanded the victim to render cooperation in the investigations and later tasked the victim to travel to Cambodia to carry out missions as part of Police investigations. Upon the victim’s arrival in Phnom Penh, the victim was instructed by the scammer to record videos of himself masquerading as a kidnap victim for the purposes of scam education and investigations. He was also instructed to stay at different hotels and to cease all communication with his family and friends. The scammer then sent the videos to the victim’s parents to demand a ransom of RMB 800,000. No ransom was paid.
Police investigations into both cases are ongoing.
Mr David Chew, Director of the Commercial Affairs Department, said, “The exercise of Police powers is an exercise of State powers. Overseas law enforcement agencies do not have any legal powers to conduct investigations in Singapore without the approval of the Singapore Government. Demands made by overseas law enforcement officers requesting victims to comply with their orders in Singapore, including orders to remit money overseas, transfer money into Singapore bank accounts, deliver documents in Singapore or travel overseas to carry out secret police missions are illegal, and should be ignored. Members of the public who are targeted by these criminals, especially foreign students in Singapore, are advised to check with the Singapore Police Force or call your Embassy or High Commission to verify the claims of the purported Police officers from your home country. As Police powers cannot be exercised outside our national borders, once victims or their money leaves Singapore, we have to rely on foreign authorities to help trace it and ensure the safety of victims. I would like to extend my appreciation to the Cambodian National Police for their strong support and assistance in locating and ensuring the safety of the two victims.”
The Police take a serious view against any person who may be involved in scams, whether knowingly or unwittingly. Anyone found to be involved in such scams will be subjected to police investigations.
The Police would like to advise members of public to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties with the “+” prefix phone numbers that originate from overseas:
- Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions. No government agency will instruct payment through 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 foreigners receiving calls from persons claiming to be from Police in your home country, call your Embassy / High Commission to verify the claims of the caller;
- Refrain from giving out your 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;
- Do not make any fund transfers if the caller is of dubious identity;
- Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgement; and
- If an overseas law enforcement officer is ordering you to do things in Singapore from overseas under the colour of their national office, hang up the call and check with the SPF.
If you have any information related to such crime, 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 Hotline 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.
Screenshots of text messages from the scammer in one of the two cases
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
28 October 2022 @ 3:50 PM