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SINGAPORE : Police said there has been a resurgence of phone scams involving the kidnap ruse and impersonation of government officials.
They said that there were 34 reported cases in September.
Out of these, there was one successful "kidnap" phone scam case, where the victim was cheated of S$25,000. Police investigations are ongoing in relation to this case.
They are advising the public to be wary when receiving such phone calls.
Police said that in the "kidnap scam", the scammers trick their victims into transferring money into a bank account by claiming that their next-of-kin had been kidnapped and would be harmed if money was not transferred to the caller's bank account.
In the "impersonation scam", the scammers impersonate police officers or staff of the Supreme Court and ask the victims to transfer money into bank accounts to exonerate themselves from criminal cases or court hearings
Police said a new method used by these scammers has seen genuine telephone numbers of a police department or that of the Supreme Court appearing in the caller ID of the victim's phones, although no calls were made from the police or Supreme Court.
Examples of official numbers used by the scammers include 63381034, which is the Supreme Court enquiry hotline; 64350000, which is the CID hotline; and 999, which is the emergency police number.
Police would not reveal how this is done.
They would like to remind the public that while it is normal during the course of police work for investigators to inform members of the public over the phone on court dates and appointments at the police station for police statements, the police would never ask for money to be deposited into a bank account.
- CNA/wk/ms
- wong chee tat :)
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