The Police have arrested a 66-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a China Officials Impersonation scam.
On 9 April 2020, the Police received a report from a female victim who received unsolicited calls from unknown persons claiming to be Chinese authorities. She was purportedly deceived into thinking that she was being investigated for transnational crimes and was then instructed by the scammers to hand over money to two female ‘agents’ to absolve herself from any criminal offence. The woman handed over around S$1 million in cash to the ‘agents’.
Preliminary investigations by officers from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) revealed that the two female ’agents’ allegedly acted under the instructions of the scammers to meet other persons in various parts of Singapore to collect cash from the victims. The women were told by the scammers that the funds would be sent to the Chinese authorities.
Further investigations established the identity of the 66-year-old man and revealed that he received S$209,370 in criminal proceeds from one of the women between 31 March 2020 and 8 April 2020. The man allegedly carried on a cross-border money transfer business when he did not have a valid licence in force that allowed him to perform such services. He was believed to have acted on the instructions of unidentified foreign clients to receive the said cash and to make arrangements with foreign business contacts in Hong Kong. The sum of S$209,370 was recovered and seized by the Police.
The man will be charged in court on 11 March 2021 under Section 5 of the Payment Services Act 2019. It is an offence for anyone to carry on a business of providing any type of payment services in Singapore without a licence, unless he is exempted under the Act. Individuals who are convicted of an offence under Section 5 of the Payment Services Act 2019 can be fined up to $125,000, jailed for up to 3 years, or both.
The Police advise members of the public to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls to hand over money to others in order to avoid criminal investigations:
- Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions.
- No local government agency will demand payment through an undocumented medium like a telephone call or other social messaging platforms, demand that you hand over cash to unnamed persons, or ask you for personal banking information such as your internet banking passwords.
- For foreign residents receiving calls from persons claiming to be Police officers or government officials from your home country, please call your Embassy/High Commission to verify the claims of the caller.
- Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on a website or to callers over the phone. Personal information and bank details such as internet bank account usernames, passwords or OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals. Do not make any funds transfer at the behest of such callers.
- Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. Do not be pressured by the caller to act impulsively.
- If in doubt, call ‘999’ or approach a police officer at the Neighbourhood Police Centre near you.
The Police would also like to warn members of the Public not to collect money from other persons, on behalf of unsolicited callers claiming to be officers from law enforcement agencies. Such callers are likely to be scammers, and members of the Public who act on their instructions, would be arrested and investigated.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
10 March 2021 @ 8:45 PM