Between 2 and 24 January 2025, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department’s Anti-Scam Command (ASC) and Police Land Divisions’ Scam Strike Teams conducted an island-wide operation targeting Government Official Impersonation Scams (GOIS) and investment scams, with support from local banks.
GOIS and investment scams have been persistently featured amongst the higher-loss scam types, with some victims losing their entire life savings to these scams. For GOIS, scammers would typically make unsolicited calls to victims, claiming to be bank staff, and informing the victims of alleged suspicious or fraudulent financial transactions made using their credentials. When victims denied making such transactions, they would be directed to other scammers impersonating officials from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) or the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), who would accuse them of being involved in criminal activities such as money laundering. Victims were then deceived into transferring their monies to designated “safety accounts” for investigations, which were bank accounts controlled by the scammers.
In investment scams, scammers befriended victims through online platforms and introduced them to lucrative investment opportunities. Alternatively, victims might come across investment opportunities through online advertisements or being added to investment chat groups on messaging platforms. Victims would be persuaded to transfer monies or cryptocurrencies into fake investments accounts with the promise of attractive returns, but they eventually were unable to withdraw their capital.
During the operation, officers from the ASC worked closely with the local banks to trace victims’ monies lost to GOIS and investment scams, freezing over 400 bank accounts that were complicit in these fund movements. Over $1.32 million in suspected scam proceeds was seized by the Police though fund tracing. Concurrently, the Police carried out raids across Singapore to locate those suspected of relinquishing their bank accounts to the scammers for use in money laundering, resulting in the arrest of 37 men and 9 women, with another 80 persons being investigated.
Investigations are ongoing into various offences, including assisting another to retain benefits of criminal conduct and unauthorised disclosure of access code. The offence assisting another to retain benefits of criminal conduct under Section 55A of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 carries an imprisonment term of up to 3 years, or a fine of up to $50,000, or both. The offence of unauthorised disclosure of access code under Section 8A of the Computer Misuse Act 1993 carries an imprisonment term of up to 3 years, or a fine up to $10,000, or both.
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 personal, banking, SingPass or CPF related information over the phone. No legitimate investment company will ask investors to transfer money to personal bank accounts. Investors should deal only with entities and persons who are regulated by the MAS by checking the MAS website.
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!
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
07 February 2025 @ 9:45 PM