Scammers are impersonating Singapore crime prevention officials
Angelica Ang for The Straits Times
A scam variant has recently emerged, where scammers impersonate staff from the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC).
In these scams, they phish for personal information from victims, said the police on July 23.
In some cases, the scammer informed victims that their identities had been stolen and used to apply for credit cards or register phone numbers that were allegedly involved in illegal activities.
At times, the call was transferred to another "officer" from NCPC, who communicated with the victim via WhatsApp.
The scammer would then send fake official documents to the victim via the messaging app to enhance his credibility, and instruct the victim to transfer money to a "safety account" for safekeeping as part of police investigations.
In one case, the victim realised it was a scam only after he told his family member about the alleged investigations and the family verified directly with the police.
NCPC staff will never ask you to transfer money or disclose your bank login details, said Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Devrajan Bala, director of the Singapore Police Force's Scam Public Education Office and executive director of the NCPC.
"As a non-profit organisation, NCPC also does not possess any investigative powers," he added.
To find out more about scams, members of the public can call the ScamShield hotline on 1799, or visit http://scamshield.gov.sg/
