Between 17 and 28 March 2025, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) conducted an island-wide operation targeting Government Official Impersonation Scams (GOIS).
In 2024, there were 1,504 GOIS cases reported with staggering scam losses of $151.3 million. In this scam type, the scammers would contact victims through fraudulently acquired phone lines and messaging platforms and impersonate staff from banks such as DBS, Maybank, OCBC, UOB, CITI, etc. or representatives from NTUC Union, Income Insurance and Unionpay staff and government officials from agencies such Singapore Police Force (SPF), Anti-Scam Centre (ASC), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), etc.
Victims who received the phone calls impersonating bank officers, would be asked to verify banking or financial transactions allegedly conducted by the victims. When victims denied making such transactions or possessing such bank cards, the first scammer would transfer the call to a second scammer claiming to be a government official (e.g. SPF, ASC, MAS).
Victims who received the phone calls from NTUC Union, Income Insurance and Unionpay staff would be informed that there were outstanding premiums associated with a new or expiring life insurance policy under their name. Thereafter, they would be redirected to a second scammer purporting to be an Income Insurance or Unionpay staff who would request personal information from the victims, such as bank account details and personal credentials, under the pretext of verifying their policy details. Victims would then be informed that, unless they cancel the insurance policy, the outstanding fees would automatically be deducted from their bank accounts. To cancel the insurance policy, victims would first have to verify their bank accounts by performing bank transfers to a specified bank account. In some cases, victims would be guided in performing these transfers through WhatsApp’s screen-sharing function. Throughout the process, victims were given the assurance that their monies would be refunded upon successful cancellation of their insurance policies.
All these victims would subsequently be redirected to another scammer impersonating officials from SPF, ASC or MAS. The scammer would inform victims that their bank accounts had been implicated in money laundering activities or that their personal information had been compromised and they would have to transfer monies to a specified bank account to assist in investigations. Victims would comply and only realise that they had been scammed when the scammers became uncontactable, or when they did not receive the promised refunds.
During the operation, officers from the ASCom worked closely with the local banks to trace victims’ monies lost to these scams, freezing over 240 bank accounts that were complicit in these fund movements. At least $955,000 in suspected scam proceeds were seized by the Police through intensified fund tracing. Concurrently, the Police carried out raids across Singapore to locate those suspected of relinquishing their bank accounts to scammers for use in money laundering, resulting in the arrests of 27 men and 7 women, aged between 17 and 46, with another 5 persons being investigated. The Police also worked with other stakeholders, such as telecommunications companies to terminate over 700 phones lines that were linked to scams.
Investigations are ongoing into offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992, and Computer Misuse Act 1993. The offence of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct in certain circumstances under Section 55A(1) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 carries an imprisonment term of up to three years, or a fine not exceeding $50,000 or both. The offence of unauthorised access to computer material under Section 3(1) of the Computer Misuse Act 1993 carries an imprisonment term of up to 2 years, or a fine of up to $5,000, or both for first-time offenders.
The Police take a serious stance against any person who is involved in facilitating scams, and perpetrators will be dealt with in accordance with the law. To avoid being an accomplice to crime, members of the public should always reject requests by others to use their SingPass credentials, bank accounts or mobile lines, as one could be held accountable if these are linked to crimes.
Government officials will never ask members of the public to transfer money to bank accounts or request for their banking, SingPass or CPF related information over the phone.
NTUC Union, Income Insurance and Unionpay representatives will never request personal information or payments to a personal bank account through unsolicited phone calls, emails, WhatsApp messages, or SMS. Any such requests should be treated as fraudulent. Payment for insurance policies are only done via Income Insurance’s secure payment portals such as its official customer portal, ME@INCOME, Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) phone system, AXS, and internet banking bill payment. Members of the public can report suspicious activity immediately to Income Insurance by calling the company’s hotline at 6788 1777 or visit its branches. Policyholders may also contact their advisors for assistance. More security tips are available at income.com.sg/security-advisory. Users of Unionpay can report suspicious activity via: UnionPay’s Help Center > Overseas Service Hotline > Asia > Singapore helpline.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the ScamShield Helpline at 1799. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!
Photos of Persons Arrested
Photos of Forged Documents
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
01 April 2025 @ 4:00 PM