On 3 November 2017, the Police were alerted by a staff from Zhongguo Remittance Pte Ltd to a suspected case of cheating. Upon the receipt of report, officers from Central Police Division and Commercial Affairs Department ascertained that a 70-year-old woman, had been scammed into remitting $31,000 to an overseas account.
Investigations revealed that on 30 October 2017 at about 7.00pm, the victim received a call from a man who claimed to be a police officer from Beijing Police. The man informed the victim that she was involved in money laundering activity in China and instructed her to furnish her particulars and bank account numbers for investigation purpose. Thereafter, she was told to remit $31,000 to a China bank account. On 3 November 2017, the victim withdrew $31,000 from two of her bank accounts and proceeded to Zhongguo Remittance to remit the money.
At the remittance company, an alert staff suspected that something was amiss and informed her supervisor who notified the Police. Due to the timely intervention by the remittance company, the sum of $31,000 was not remitted.
The Police would like to commend Zhongguo Remittance Pte Ltd for their timely intervention that helped to foil the scam attempt and highlights the importance of the community in fighting crime.
The Police would like to advise members of the public to take precautions when they receive calls from unknown parties:
- Ignore the calls. Scammers may use Caller ID spoofing technology to mask the actual phone number and display a different number. Calls that appear to be from a local number may not actually be made from Singapore. If you receive a suspicious call from a local number, hang up, wait five minutes, then call the number back to check the validity of the request.
- Ignore instruction to remit or transfer money. No government agency will inform you to make a payment through a telephone call, especially to a third party's bank account.
- Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on the 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.
- Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and make errors in your judgment.
- If you have information related to such crime or if you are in doubt, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or dial 999 for urgent Police assistance.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
05 November 2017 @ 6:45 PM