A 33-year-old man will be charged in court on 11 March 2024, for his suspected involvement in a case of attempted cheating by staging his own kidnap.
On 9 March 2024 at about 6.51pm, the Police received a call for assistance that a 33-year-old male Chinese National had allegedly been kidnapped. The man was a tourist in Singapore and was supposed to return to China on 6 March 2024 but did not do so. The man’s aunt allegedly received text messages through WeChat from an unknown person seeking a ransom of RMB30,000 for the release of her nephew. In the text messages, the unknown person forwarded the photo of the man’s travel document as proof. The aunt, who was in China at the time, alerted the man’s father to the matter. Fearing for his son’s safety, he called the Singapore Police Force from China, for assistance.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had entered Singapore on 1 March 2024. Officers from Central Police Division conducted extensive searches and investigations to locate the man. Within three hours of the Police report received, officers managed to locate the man in the vicinity of Marina Bay. He was safe and sound.
Further investigations revealed that the man had gambling debts amounting between SGD$20,000 and SGD$30,000. To recoup from the debts, the man pretended to be someone else and staged his own kidnap. He had sent threatening messages to his aunt in hopes to receive the ransom money. However, no ransom was paid to him or anyone else and his mobile devices were seized in connection to the case.
If convicted for the offence of Attempted Cheating under Section 420 read with Section 511 of the Penal Code, 1871, he may face an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, a fine, or both.
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 and may be prosecuted.
The Police would like to advise members of the 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.
- 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 crimes, 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 Helpline 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 33-year-old to his aunt ▼
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
11 March 2024 @ 11:40 AM