The Police have observed a new scam variant where scammers would pose as customers seeking services from logistics or moving companies. Since March 2022, at least 10 victims had fallen prey, with losses amounting to at least $9,000.
In these cases, the scammers would contact the victims via messaging applications such as WhatsApp to enquire about the availability of their services on an urgent basis, and that their remunerations would be paid in cash. The scammers would claim to be tenants of buildings or malls such as “Orchard ION” and would instruct the victims to seek approval from the respective building management. Scammers would then provide a contact number claiming that it belonged to a building management staff. After the victims engaged the said building management staff via WhatsApp, they would be instructed to make payment for a refundable deposit to facilitate the approval process for the moving services. The said building management staff would then request for the deposits to be transferred to bank accounts belonging to unknown individuals. The victims would only realise that they have been scammed when both the “customer” and building management staff became uncontactable after the deposit was paid.
The Police would like to advise the logistics and moving companies to adopt the following precautionary measures:
- When in doubt, always verify the authenticity of the information with the relevant parties involved through alternative means, such as:
- Verifying that the client is indeed a tenant at the building;
- Checking with the building management through official contact details provided on their official website; and
- Do not transfer money to accounts belonging to unknown individuals without verification.
If you have 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 more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Please dial ‘999’ if you require urgent Police assistance. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
Annex A
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
24 March 2022 @ 5:00 PM