Between mid-February and early March 2025, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) and Police Land Divisions’ Scam Strike Teams conducted an island-wide operation targeting Government Official Impersonation Scams (GOIS), investment and job scams, with support from local banks.
In 2024, scam losses peaked at a staggering $1.1 billion, with the highest losses attributed to GOIS, investment and job scams. In these three scam types, scammers contacted victims through fraudulently acquired phone lines and messaging platforms and subsequently deceived them into transferring monies to banks or cryptocurrency wallets controlled by scammers.
During the operation, officers from the ASCom worked closely with the local banks to trace victims’ monies lost to these scams, freezing over 300 bank accounts that were complicit in these fund movements. Around $1.9 million in suspected scam proceeds were seized by the Police through fund tracing. Concurrently, the Police carried out raids across Singapore to locate those suspected of relinquishing their bank accounts to scammers for use in money laundering, resulting in the arrests of 20 men and 5 women, aged between 18 and 40, with another 65 persons being investigated.
Through close collaboration with major industry stakeholders, such as social media companies, phone application messaging platforms, and telecommunications companies (for telco line reporting), the Police also managed to disrupt more than 1300 online enablers and terminate more than 1700 phone lines that were linked to scams.
Investigations are ongoing into offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992, and Computer Misuse Act 1993. The offence of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct in certain circumstances under Section 55A(1) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 carries an imprisonment term of up to three years, or a fine not exceeding $50,000 or both. The offence of unauthorised access to computer material under Section 3(1) of the Computer Misuse Act 1993 carries an imprisonment term of up to 2 years, or a fine of up to $5,000, or both for first-time offenders.
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 banking, SingPass or CPF related information over the phone. To avoid falling prey to investment scams, members of public are strongly advised to exercise caution when making any investment decisions. No legitimate investment company will ask investors to transfer money to personal bank accounts or use group chats to sell investment products.
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
Photos of Persons Arrested
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
22 March 2025 @ 3:35 PM