On 25 January 2018, a 32-year-old woman lodged a Police report stating that she had been cheated in a phone scam. In the morning of the same day, she received a phone call from a man claiming to be from Interpol. The scammer accused her of money laundering crimes and instructed her to withdraw all her monies in her bank account. Subsequently, she was told to deliver the money to a man near Buffalo Road. She met up with the man as directed, passed S$32,000 to him and left. When the scammer called the victim to demand for more money, she felt suspicious and decided to seek advice from the Police.
The Police conducted extensive follow-up investigations and arrested 2 Taiwanese men, aged 22 and 27 on 26 January 2018. Preliminary investigations revealed that they allegedly received criminal proceeds that are linked to the scam. They are also believed to be involved in several other similar cases.
The two men will be charged in Court for the offence of Dishonestly Receiving Stolen Property on 27 January 2018. If convicted, the men face an imprisonment term of up to 5 years, or fined or both.
The Police would like to 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
26 January 2018 @ 9:30 PM