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Police received a report on Jan. 28 that a 21-year-old man had allegedly been kidnapped.

The reality, however, was that the man was isolating himself in a hotel after falling prey to scammers who had claimed to be from the Ministry of Health (MOH), investigations revealed.

Police managed to locate the victim "safe and sound in a hotel" within eight hours of the report, at around 9:30am.

However, the scammers had swindled over S$560,000 from the victim and his parent by pretending to be police officers in China conducting a money-laundering investigation.

Details of the case were revealed in a statement issued by the Police on Jan. 31.

An unsolicited call from "MOH"

The victim had first been contacted by scammers in Nov. 2021. The callers claimed to be from MOH.

The call was later directed to other scammers who claimed to be police officers from China.

These "police officers" purportedly claimed that the victim was involved in money laundering offences in China and sought his cooperation to assist in their investigations.

Fake documents were sent to the victim's mobile phone:

The victim and his parent ended up transferring more than S$560,000 to bank accounts provided by the scammer.

This took place on several occasions between Dec. 22, 2021, and Jan. 24, 2022.

Police said the scammers also allegedly threatened the victim.

Isolated in hotel room

The victim was also told by scammers to isolate himself in a hotel room and record videos of himself with his hands behind his back.

These videos were to convince his family that he was in trouble.

The victim's family then received the videos, along with ransom demands from "an unknown person with a Fujian accent, who was believed to be in China".

A screenshot of the messages sent to the victim's family member was provided by the Police as well.

Some of the messages sent by the scammer read: "I have your son", "You can use money to free him", and "I do not wish to hurt him".

The last message in the screenshot reads: "If you report this to the police, you will not get to see your son again."

Police: Overseas law enforcement agencies do not have jurisdiction in Singapore

The Police highlighted that the China Police, INTERPOL and other overseas law enforcement agencies do not have jurisdiction to conduct operations in Singapore, arrest anyone or ask members of the public to help with any form of investigation without the approval of the Singapore Government.

The Police also advised members of the public to take precautions when receiving unsolicited calls from unknown parties, especially those with the "+" prefix.

The precautions include ignoring such calls and any instructions from callers and refraining from giving out personal information and bank details.

Police also advised those who receive such calls to call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before acting. "You may be overwhelmed by emotion and may err in your judgment," said the Police statement.

"If in doubt, always hang up the call and check with the Singapore Police Force," the statement added.

Top image via Singapore Police Force and Adrian Swancar on Unsplash

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