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The Singapore Police Force (SPF) would like to alert members of the public to be vigilant against government official impersonation scams that involve the impersonation of officers from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Since September 2025, there have been at least seven cases reported with total losses amounting to about $52,000.

In this scam variant, victims would first receive unsolicited calls from scammers posing as representatives from a bank. They would be informed that a credit card had been found under their name, or there have been transactions made using a credit card supposedly belonging to them. When the victims deny these claims, they would be transferred to another scammer impersonating as an officer from MHA. The scammer would then allege that the victims were involved in criminal activities, such as money laundering. In some cases, the scammers would also present fake official documents to the victims, including a “warrant of arrest”, a “notice of investigation” and a “court hearing appointment”, to add credibility to their deception.

The scammers would subsequently instruct the victims to perform monetary transactions for investigation purposes. This may involve transferring funds via PayNow (e.g. by scanning a YouTrip QR code), handing over valuables (e.g. gold) to unknown persons, or performing cryptocurrency-related transfers. Victims would eventually realise that they had been scammed when the scammers became uncontactable. 

We would like to inform members of the public that Singapore Government officials, including those from MHA, will never do the following over a phone call:

1. Ask you to transfer money, gold or crypto-currency; 
   
   
2. Ask you to disclose bank login details; 
   
   
3. Ask you to install mobile apps from unofficial app stores; and 
   
   
4. Transfer your call to the Police or to a MHA officer.

The Police would also like to remind members of the public to NEVER transfer or hand over monies, cryptocurrencies or other valuables to unknown persons or to anyone whose identity you have not verified. NEVER leave monies or valuables at a physical location for someone else to collect later. NEVER disclose your personal details to unknown persons. Do not share the screens of your devices with any unknown persons. Members of the public are also encouraged to adopt the following precautionary measures:

1. ADD – ScamShield app to block scam calls and filter out scam SMSes. Set up security features (e.g. set transaction limits for internet banking/credit and debit card transactions, enable 2FA or multifactor authentication for e-wallets, use the Money Lock feature provided by your bank to “lock up” a portion of your money so that it cannot be transferred out digitally by anyone in particular scammers, further protecting your savings from scams). 
   
   
2. CHECK – scam signs with official sources such as the ScamShield App. Call and check with the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799. 
   
   
3. TELL – authorities, family, and friends if or when you encounter scams. If you suspect that you have fallen victim to a scam, call your bank immediately to report and block any fraudulent transactions as well as make a police report.

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community! 

Screenshots of fake official documents provided by scammers

Screenshot of fake warrant of arrest



Screenshot of fake notice of investigation



Screenshot of fake court hearing appointment