Scammers pretended to be police from Anti-Scam Centre to scam people out of at least $73,000
It's diabolical.
Scammers are using the Singapore Police Force's own Anti-Scam Centre to scam people out of their money.
At least two scam victims have lost a total of least $73,000 this way since January, said the police.
Set up in 2019, the Anti-Scam Centre is part of the Commercial Affairs Department in the Police Cantonment Complex.
How the scam works is the victims would receive unsolicited robocalls from local mobile lines claiming to be from the Anti-Scam Centre.
The victims would be informed that they were being investigated and were required to report to Police Cantonment Complex for an interview.
They would be guided to press 0 to speak to an operator.
But the victims would be directed to scammers who would then request personal details such as the victims' identification number as part of the verification process.
The call would be transferred to another scammer impersonating a police investigation officer who would re-engage the victim via WhatsApp call to continue the conversation.
The victims could be deceived into disclosing personal information such as bank account details, personal credentials, SingPass password or Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) One-Time Password (OTP) for the purpose of assisting in investigations.
Such information may be misused to access victims’ bank account to enable unauthorised transactions or create a new bank account under the victims’ name to enable criminal activities. In previous cases, victims were instructed to transfer money to a bank account for the purpose of assisting in financial investigations.
The police will never ask for your personal details such as identification number, bank account details, SingPass password or 2FA OTP over the phone or social messaging platforms such as WhatsApp to assist in investigations.
The police will also never ask you to transfer money into a bank account under their name or another person’s name to assist in investigations.
You are encouraged to adopt the following crime prevention measures:
- ADD – Add the ScamShield App to protect yourself from scam calls and SMSes.
- CHECK – Check for scam signs with official sources (such as ScamShield WhatsApp bot @ go.gov.sg/scamshield-bot, call the Anti-Scam Helpline on 1800-722-6688, or visit www.scamalert.sg). Before giving personal details such as identification number, bank account, SingPass or 2FA OTP over the phone or WhatsApp, check with authorised sources because the Police will never demand for your personal details through an undocumented medium like phone or social messaging platforms like WhatsApp for verification or to assist in investigations. Never share your personal details with anyone over the phone.
- TELL – Report the number to WhatsApp for them to initiate in-app blocking. If you have disclosed your banking details, report this to your bank immediately. Tell your friends about this scam so they do not fall for it.
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