In November 2017, a victim of a China Officials Impersonation Scam lost about S$5.4 million to scammers after she was cheated to believe that she had to surrender all her monies to the authorities to assist in investigations. Police investigations revealed that she delivered her money to different strangers at various locations in Singapore over a one-week period. The suspects left Singapore after committing the crime.
On 16 January 2018, one of the suspects, a 20-year-old Malaysian man was arrested in Kuala Lumpur for his suspected involvement in the scam. With the assistance of the Royal Malaysia Police, the suspect was brought back to Singapore on 18 January 2018. He will be charged in Court on 19 January 2018 with the offence of Dishonestly Receiving Stolen Property.
If convicted, the man faces an imprisonment term of up to 5 years, or fined or both.
Director of Commercial Affairs Department, Mr David Chew, said, “We will spare no effort to identify, arrest and charge these criminals and their money mules. While they may try to try to leave Singapore to evade responsibility for their criminal acts, this arrest is testament to the continuing resolve of the police, both here and abroad, to bring them to justice. I would like to thank the Royal Malaysia Police for their strong support and assistance in arresting the suspect in this case.”
The Police advise members of the public to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls to surrender money in order to avoid criminal investigations:
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Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions. No government agency will demand payment through an undocumented medium like a telephone call or other social messaging platforms (WeChat or Facebook); or ask you for personal banking information such as your internet banking passwords.
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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.
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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.
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Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. Do not be pressured by the caller to act impulsively.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
18 January 2018 @ 9:30 PM