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The Police would like to alert members of the public to a surge in cases of Government Officials Impersonation Scams, where scammers contact victims using eight-digit telephone numbers that start with the digit “3”. Since May 2026, at least 12 cases have been reported, resulting in total losses of approximately $274,000.

In this scam variant, the victims would receive unsolicited calls from scammers using unknown eight-digit numbers beginning with the digit “3” who were impersonating representatives from various banks, financial institutions, and telecommunication companies. The scammers would claim that suspicious transactions had been detected on the victims’ credit cards, that existing insurance policies under the victims’ names were being misused, or that the victims’ identities had been used to sign up for a new phone contract. The victims’ call would then be transferred to another scammer impersonating government officials from the Ministry of Law (MinLaw), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), or Singapore Police Force (SPF), who would accuse the victims of being involved in criminal activities such as money laundering.

To facilitate “investigations”, the victims would then be instructed to perform bank transfers or cash deposits via an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) into a “safe account”. In some cases, the scammers would also ask the victims to withdraw monies or declare valuables owned and meet unknown subjects to hand over their valuables under the guise of “investigation purposes”. The victims would only realise they had been scammed when the scammers became uncontactable or when victims sought verification from the relevant government agencies. 

Members of the public are reminded to: 

• Never share sensitive information such as bank card Personal Identification Number (PIN) with others.
• Never transfer or hand over money and other valuables to any unknown persons, or persons whose identities you did not verified with official sources.
• Never place money or valuables at a physical location to facilitate subsequent collection.

Singapore Government officials, including officials from MinLaw, MAS, and SPF, will never do the following:

• Ask you to transfer or hand over money, luxury watches, gold or cryptocurrency;
  
  
• Ask you to obtain loans from licensed moneylenders;
  
  
• Ask you to disclose banking log-in details;
  
  
• Ask you to install mobile apps from unofficial app stores; or 
  
  
• Transfer your call to the Police, or any other government officials.

Do not trust unsolicited communications, even if the caller appears to have your personal information. Members of the public are also encouraged to adopt the following precautionary measures:

• ADD – Add the ScamShield app to protect yourself from scam calls and SMSes. Set security features (e.g. set up transaction limits for internet banking transactions, enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Multifactor Authentication for banks). 
  
  
• CHECK – Check for scam signs with official sources. You can check the legitimacy of suspicious messages, phone numbers, and website links via the ScamShield app or visit the ScamShield website at www.scamshield.gov.sg. 
  
  
• TELL – Tell the authorities, family, and friends about scams. Report any fraudulent transactions to your bank immediately.

If you are in doubt, call the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799 to check. 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!