The Police have arrested a 22-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a case of Government Officials impersonation scam.
In December 2019, the Police received a report from a 65-year-old victim who received unsolicited phone calls from scammers claiming to be officers from Singapore Police Force. The victim was purportedly informed that his bank accounts were involved in a money laundering investigation and he was required to surrender his financial assets for investigations. The victim was allegedly deceived into handing over his internet banking token to a man for the so-called investigations.
Preliminary investigations by officers from Commercial Affairs Department revealed that the man arrested had allegedly acted on the instructions of the scammers to meet the 65-year-old victim to collect his internet banking token. He allegedly showed the victim a fake ‘International Police’ pass when they met. The victim subsequently realised that a sum of $42,189.60 was transferred out of his bank account without his knowledge.
The man will be charged in court on 19 March 2021 with two counts of using as genuine a forged document, punishable under Section 471 of the Penal Code and one count of cheating, punishable under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
The offence of using as genuine a forged document carries an imprisonment term of up to four years, a fine, or both. The offence of cheating carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine.
The Police advise members of the public to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls to surrender 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 surrender cash to unnamed persons, or ask you for personal banking information such as your internet banking passwords;
- For foreigner 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 and passwords, 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; and
- 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 the behalf of unsolicited callers claiming to be officers from law enforcement agencies. Such callers are most likely scammers, and members of the Public who act on their instructions, would be arrested and investigated.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
18 March 2021 @ 11:35 PM