On 5 December 2023, the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) partnered and worked with Standard Chartered Bank to seize more than S$260,000 in a Government Official Impersonation Scam case.
In this case, a 79-year-old victim had received an unsolicited call from a first scammer who impersonated a bank officer in September 2023, alleging that the victim’s account had been frozen for investigation. The first scammer then transferred the victim to a second scammer who impersonated as a Singapore Police Force official. The second scammer then instructed the victim to report her whereabouts four times daily and not to divulge details about the investigation. In November 2023, under the instructions of the second scammer, the victim sold her Unit Trust investments held with Standard Chartered Bank, amounting to more than S$260,000, to transfer the monies to a third-party bank account provided by the scammer, purportedly to assist in investigations. The transaction was detected by a Standard Chartered Bank relationship manager, who noticed the victim’s unusual banking behaviour and outgoing transfers to a suspected mule’s bank account. He promptly escalated the case to the Standard Chartered Bank anti-fraud team, who reached out to ASC for intervention.
The ASC immediately worked with Standard Chartered Bank’s anti-fraud team to conduct fund flow tracing, which led to identifying and freezing of all the scammer-controlled accounts. This prevented the loss of over S$260,000. ASC officers also swiftly followed up with the victim to alert her of the deceptive scheme.
The ASC collaborates closely with the financial institutions and stakeholders to combat scams. To protect its customers from fraud and scams, among other measures taken, Standard Chartered Bank’s anti-fraud team regularly conducts training for frontline teams to step up vigilance in fraud detection and prevention measures. The rigorous emphasis on anti-scam training and the close collaboration with the ASC has led to the timely intervention.
The Police would like to alert members of the public to the variant of Government Official Impersonation Scam, where scammers would impersonate officers from government organisations and accuse victims of their involvement in criminal or money laundering activities overseas. The scam occurs in the following way:
- Members of the public would receive unsolicited calls from a scammer, who would impersonate as a bank officer. The scammer would then allege that the victims have outstanding credit card charges on their cards that are linked to criminal or money laundering activities.
- The scammer would then transfer the victim’s call to another scammer purporting to be a Government official. The second scammer would inform the victims that they were under investigation for criminal or money laundering activities. The communication between the second scammer and the victim may subsequently move to messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram. The second scammer would then instruct the victims to do any of the following:
- relinquish bank account details;
- transfer money to a third-party bank account purportedly to assist in investigations;
- open new bank accounts;
- meet unknown subjects to handover / collect / sign fake documents;
- report their whereabouts and told not to divulge details about the investigation.
Members of the public are advised to adopt the following precautionary measures:
- ADD - ScamShield App and security features (e.g. enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Multifactor Authentication for banks and set up transaction limits for internet banking transactions, including PayNow).
- CHECK - For scam signs with official sources (e.g. ScamShield WhatsApp bot @ https://go.gov.sg/scamshield-bot, call the Anti-Scam Helpline on 1800-722-6688, or visit www.scamalert.sg). Never install software from unverified sources as they may be remote access software allowing others to observe what you do on your device or even take control of it. Additionally, you should never allow others to watch you enter your personal particulars or bank login details.
- TELL - Authorities, family, and friends about scams and do not be pressured by the caller to act impulsively. Report the number to WhatsApp and Telegram to initiate in-app blocking and report any fraudulent transactions to your bank immediately.
If you have any information relating to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!
Mr Tan Kah Boon, Senior Relationship Manager, Priority Clients at Standard Chartered Bank, who escalated the case to the Standard Chartered Bank anti-fraud team.▼
Ms Koh Siok Meng, Analyst, Fraud Risk Management at Standard Chartered Bank and Ms Irina Ng, Senior Investigation Officer, Anti-Scam Centre discussing on the case and intervention.▼
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
08 December 2023 @ 6:10 PM