SINGAPORE – The police issued an advisory on Monday (April 11) warning the general public of a recurring pattern the place scammers method victims by way of spoofed calls.
Victims obtain unsolicited telephone calls from people claiming to be bank staff and are advised that their bank accounts have been misused and that they’re below investigation for cash laundering.
These calls typically comprise a +65 prefix, suggesting they’re made from abroad.
The caller requests the sufferer’s bank account login particulars and one-time password (OTP) below the pretext of verifying them.
Then the decision is transferred to somebody purportedly from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), to facilitate the lodging of a police report.
The faux officer from CAD subsequently communicates with the sufferer on social messaging platform WhatsApp and asks for private particulars, together with images and identification paperwork, claiming such data is required for the police report.
In some circumstances, victims have acquired an image of a letter purportedly from the Singapore Police Force, notifying them that they’re below investigation.
Eventually, focused people realise they’ve been scammed after they obtain notifications from the banks, informing them that their contact particulars have been modified and unauthorised transactions have been made from their bank accounts.
The police emphasised that no native authorities company will ask for private particulars reminiscent of NRIC quantity and images by way of undocumented media reminiscent of phone calls or social messaging platforms.
Members of the general public are suggested to disregard unsolicited calls and the callers’ directions to give up banking credentials to facilitate legal investigations.
People must also not disclose their private particulars, bank login particulars and OTP to anybody, together with household and pals.
They must also name trusted pals or kinfolk earlier than taking motion, and report any fraudulent exercise of their bank accounts to the related banks instantly.
Those with data associated to such crimes ought to name the police hotline on 1800-255-0000 or submit a report online here.
For scam-related recommendation, they could additionally name the anti-scam helpline on 1800-722-6688 or go to this website.
