The Police would like to remind the public of a variant of the lucky draw scam.
Victims would receive a call from unknown overseas numbers informing them that they had won a lucky draw. They were then instructed to pay various “fees and charges” in order to claim the lucky draw winnings. When the victims declined to do so, they were then threatened with being referred to the Police and a picture of a Police report and/or photograph of Police officers in uniform would be sent to them. In one of the cases, the victim was also told to contact someone who claimed to be an officer from the Singapore Police Force. Between January and November 2019, at least three cases have been reported, with at least $1,600 cheated.
The Police would like to advise members of the public to be wary if you receive such messages or calls, especially if you have not participated in any lucky draw. Ignore any instructions provided by the caller/message sender to make payments by remitting money or purchasing online credits and gift cards. Winning a lucky draw should not require any payments to be made to claim the prize.
Members of the public are also advised to adopt the following crime prevention measures:
- Don’t panic – No government agency will request for transfer of money, personal details or bank account login credentials over the phone. Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgment.
- Don’t believe – 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 a while, then call the number back to check the validity of the request.
- Don’t give – Do not provide your name, identification number, passport details, contact details, bank account or credit card details, and One-Time-Password (OTP) to anyone. Such information is useful to criminals.
If you wish to provide any information related to such crimes, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. For urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.
To seek scam-related advice, you may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg. Join the ‘Let’s Fight Scams’ campaign at www.scamalert.sg/fight by signing up as an advocate to receive up-to-date messages and share them with your family and friends. Together, we can help stop scams and prevent our loved ones from becoming the next victim.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
02 December 2019 @ 5:25 PM