The Police have arrested two men, aged 45 and 66, for their suspected involvement in a China Officials Impersonation scam.
On 9 April 2020 at about 6pm, the Police received a report from a victim that she had received calls from scammers claiming to be from Chinese authorities and was told that she was being investigated for transnational crimes. She was then instructed by the scammers to surrender money to two female ‘agents’ for further investigations at various locations around Singapore. The victim then handed over at least S$1 million in cash to the ‘agents’.
Further investigations revealed that the two women acted under the instructions of the scammers to meet other persons in various parts of Singapore to hand over the collected cash to them. They were told by the scammers that the funds would be sent to the Chinese authorities.
Through follow-up investigations, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department established the identity of the two men who had received the criminal proceeds that may be linked to the scam and arrested them on 16 April 2020 for dishonestly receiving stolen property. The offence carries a jail term of up to five years, a fine, or both.
Cash amounting to S$529,540 was seized. Investigations against the men are ongoing. The two women are also being investigated for money laundering-related offences.
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 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.
· 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 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.
· To seek scam-related advice, you may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg.
The Police would also like to warn members of the public not to collect money from other individuals, 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 will be investigated by the Police.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
17 April 2020 @ 4:10 PM