In February and March 2024, the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) partnered and worked with CIMB Bank and Hong Leong Finance to avert losses of about $3.7 million in three scam cases involving the same victim.
In the first case, on 6 February 2024, CIMB’s Fraud Management Team detected some large transactions amounting to $2.1 million being made from an 82-year-old victim’s bank account. Following that, both the ASC and CIMB officers jointly engaged the elderly victim at his residence. To protect the victim, ASC also sought his son’s assistance to provide family support to the victim and the CIMB’s fraud management team suspended the victim’s bank account to prevent further losses. A sum of $1.3 million was recovered with the remaining sum being dissipated overseas prior to the police report.
On 7 February 2024, the ASC was alerted by the victim’s son that three cheques amounting to $1.2 million were issued by Hong Leong Finance under victim’s instruction to three individuals. ASC worked with Hong Leong Finance and instructed the bank to hold the cheques, pending further verifications.
On 9 March 2024, the ASC was alerted by CIMB’s Branch Operation Team, that the elderly victim was accompanied by an unknown man at CIMB Bank Branch to purchase a cashier’s order of $1.2 million. Pursuant to the information, officers from ASC and Central Police Division responded swiftly and engaged the victim at the CIMB bank. A 20-year-old man was subsequently arrested for his suspected involvement in a Government Officials Impersonation Scam (GOIS) case.
Through follow-up investigations, Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) officers seized two mobile phones and some documents, which were used in the commission of offence from the man’s possession. Preliminary investigations revealed that the man, who had acted under the instructions of fake China Police, had impersonated as a Chinese Police officer and accompanied the elderly victim to the CIMB bank. He had demanded the victim to purchase a cashier’s order amounting to $1.2 million. Preliminary investigations also revealed that the man is believed to be involved in another three GOIS cases between February and March 2024.
Investigations against the man are still ongoing. The offence of cheating by personation under Section 419 of the Penal Code 1871 carries an imprisonment term up to 5 years, or with fine, or with both. The offence of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code 1871 carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine.
The Police take a serious view against any person who may be involved in scams, whether knowingly or unwittingly. Anyone found to be involved in such scams will be subjected to police investigations.
The Police would like to advise members of the public to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties with the “+” prefix phone numbers that originate from overseas:
- Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions. No government agency will instruct payment through 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 foreigners receiving calls from persons claiming to be from Police in your home country, call your Embassy / High Commission to verify the claims of the caller;
- Refrain from giving out your 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;
- Do not make any fund transfers if the caller is of dubious identity;
- Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgement; and
- If an overseas law enforcement officer is ordering you to do things in Singapore from overseas under the colour of their national office, hang up the call and check with the SPF.
ACT Against Scams
Members of the public are advised to adopt the following precautionary measures:
- ADD – Add the ScamShield App to protect yourself from scam calls and SMSes. Set security features (e.g. set up transaction limits for internet banking transactions, enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Multifactor Authentication for banks.
- CHECK – Check for scam signs with official sources (e.g. ScamShield WhatsApp bot @ https://go.gov.sg/scamshield-bot, call the Anti-Scam Helpline on 1800-722-6688, or visit www.scamalert.sg). Beware of unsolicited phone calls from dubious parties. Do not follow instructions from dubious parties to install applications, type commands into your device, log into your online banking account or reveal sensitive personal information.
- TELL – Tell the authorities, family, and friends about scams. Report any fraudulent transactions to your bank immediately.
If you have any information relating to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!
Case Exhibits Seized ▼
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
19 March 2024 @ 1:20 PM