[Crime_Advisory]

As you may be aware, there has been a spate of scams carried out over the telephones or commonly known as phone scams, to convince victims to part with their money. These scams are generally known as the Lottery Scam, Kidnap Scam and Impersonation Scam. As at end February 2008, there were close to 1,000 cases reported with more than $5 million lost to the tricksters. Despite the heightened publicity, these scams remain unabated.

Description of Scams

2. Lottery Scam: Tricksters may make calls from overseas, email or SMS the victims, informing them that they have won prize money in a foreign lottery. The tricksters would request for an advance payment in order to process the claims for prizes.

3. Kidnap Scam: Tricksters would claim that the victim’s loved one had been kidnapped and demand that a ransom be transferred to a specific bank account. These fake threats are usually accompanied by sounds of cries for help in the background.

4. Impersonation Scam: Tricksters would impersonate law enforcement officials, advising victims to remit or transfer money to designated bank accounts in order to exonerate themselves from alleged crimes. These common allegations include failure to appear in court in relation to one’s involvement in money laundering, and unlicensed money lending cases. Police also noted that there is a recent trend of tricksters using the following tactics to perpetrate their scams:

i. The tricksters will impersonate foreign government officials such as the Interpol, Taiwan Police, China Police, etc;

ii. The tricksters will ask the victims for their personal information and bank account details for verification purposes. In some occasions, they were able to recite the victims’ personal information or bank account number;

iii. The tricksters will send pre-recorded voice messages to the victims. The victims will need to press a number before their calls are answered by an operator. To lend credibility to their scams, the number that appeared on the victims’ phone reflect those belonging to the local authorities such as:

a. Supreme Court Quality Service Manager/ Enquiry Hotline: 63381034,

b. CID Hotline: 64350000, or

c. Police Emergency Hotline: 999

This is commonly known as ‘caller-id spoofing’ where advances in technology enable callers to lie about their identity through false numbers. This scam can be easily foiled by making a call back to the numbers directly instead of following the steps prescribed by the tricksters.

Crime Prevention Measures

5. Police would like to advise the public to note the following:

I. In the case of a Kidnap Scam, they should remain calm and try to contact their loved one immediately. If repeated attempts fail, they should seek assistance from the police;

II. In the case of a Lottery Scam, they should ignore the notifications of how to collect the winnings especially when they did not buy a lottery ticket;

III. In the case of an Impersonation Scam, they should request the caller to send an official written notice;

IV. They should never transfer or remit money to unknown callers;

V. They should never reveal their personal information and bank account number over the phone;

VI. They should call the police if they are suspicious of calls.

6. Those who receive such calls may wish to pass on such information to the Police at a Neighbourhood Police Centre. More details of such scams can be found in the SPF/CAD website at www.spf.gov.sg or www.cad.gov.sg.

7. Thank you and best regards.


The above information has been reproduced with the permission of Singapore Police Force (SPF). Any feedback should be made directly to SPF at www.spf.gov.sg/feedback.htm. If you wish to report a crime, call “999” or go to any Neighbourhood Police Centre/Post or www.spf.gov.sg/epc. Nothing hereby signifies any endorsement of this forum by SPF.