Police collaborate with UAE authorities and Interpol to recover company's $57,000 from scammers
The Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) of the Singapore Police Force has successfully recovered over US$45,000 (S$57,000) in a business email compromise scam case, thanks to collaboration with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities and Interpol.
The case involved a Singapore-based consultancy firm that was duped into transferring funds to a fraudulent bank account in the UAE.
The scammers had impersonated a legitimate supplier, tricking the firm's staff into believing that the payment instructions had been updated on Sept 12. The employee was unaware that the ".com" in the supplier's original email was replaced with ".store".
The staff then transferred US$45,532.42 to the "supplier" on Sept 18 but the funds were directed to the fraudulent bank account in the UAE.
The staff discovered the fraud after being informed by their genuine supplier that they had not changed their bank account.
With the assistance of the UAE authorities and Interpol's Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP), ASCom was able to trace and recover the funds.
The police said they remain committed to working closely with international counterparts to combat cross-border criminal activities and uphold the integrity of the global financial system.
"This successful recovery underscores the critical importance of international cooperation in combating transnational scam cases, where perpetrators operate in a borderless environment," the police said in a statement.
