On 28 March 2025, the Singapore Police Force’s (SPF) Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) with the assistance of its overseas counterpart and FRONTIER+ member, the Hong Kong Police Force’s (HKPF) Anti-Deception Coordination Centre (ADCC), successfully traced and withheld over USD499,000 (around S$670,000) that was lost to a sophisticated business-related impersonation scam involving digital manipulation.
In this case, the victim, a finance director of a multi-national corporation, was contacted via WhatsApp on 24 March 2025 by a scammer impersonating the company’s chief financial officer. He was told to participate in a video conference regarding the supposed restructuring of the firm’s regional business on 26 March 2024 as well as to link up with an executive partner of a law firm. Subsequently, he received a call from the purported lawyer who told him the importance of the project and the need for confidentiality. The victim was made to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
On 25 March 2025, the victim was told that the video conference was rescheduled to that day itself. He joined the Zoom video conference with the company’s chief executive officer, among others, impersonated using deepfake technology. Through the video conference and subsequent correspondence with the lawyer-impersonator, the victim was instructed to perform a transaction of over USD499,000 from the company’s HSBC bank account to another local corporate bank account, which he carried out on 26 March 2025.
Unbeknownst to the victim, the beneficiary corporate bank account was a money mule account under the control of the scammers. From the account, funds amounting to over USD494,000 were transferred out of jurisdiction to Hong Kong bank accounts. The victim only became aware of the scam on 27 March 2025, when the scammer asked for additional USD1.4 million (around S$1.88 million) to be transferred. He quickly alerted HSBC, which immediately notified ASC.
Acting on information provided by HSBC, the ASC quickly established the destination of the scam proceeds and sought the assistance of the ADCC to recover the funds. On 28 March 2025, the ADCC successfully withheld the full amount that was transferred in the Hong Kong bank accounts. The ASC had also seized the remaining amount of over USD5,000 (around S$7,000) in the local mule account. Investigations into the case are ongoing.
This case underscores the importance of public-private partnership and international cooperation. The establishment of FRONTIER+ on 21 October 2024, comprising representatives from anti-scam centres of seven jurisdictions, namely Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, Thailand, the Republic of Maldives, the Republic of Korea and Australia, is essential to bolster international cooperation and combat the growing threat of scams. Through coordinated efforts and shared resources, this initiative strengthens the region's capability to combat sophisticated cross-border scam operations and recover illicitly transferred funds.
The Police would also like to advise businesses to adopt the following precautionary measures:
- Establish protocols for employees to verify the authenticity of any video calls or messages, particularly those purportedly from senior executives or key stakeholders. Train employees to be vigilant about unsolicited video calls or messages, even if they appear to come from known business contacts;
- Be mindful of any sudden or urgent fund transfer instructions and verify the authenticity of the instructions with the relevant departments or personnels directly through established communication channels;
- Never disclose confidential or personal information or send money to any unknown persons; and
- If you suspect that your company has fallen victim to a scam, call the associated bank immediately to report and block any fraudulent transactions as well as make a police report.
If 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!
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
07 April 2025 @ 9:00 AM