Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

The Singapore police have arrested a 22-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a case of China officials impersonation scam.

Woman reported as 'kidnapped'

On Oct. 14, 2022, the police received a report that a 19-year-old woman had been kidnapped.

Prior to the report, the parents of the victim, who were based in China, received a video of the victim with her hands and legs tied up and mouth taped shut.

The video was accompanied with a ransom demand from an unknown person communicating in Mandarin.

Following the report, the woman was tracked down on Oct. 14 and discovered to be a victim of a China officials impersonation scam.

The victim was found to be safe and sound in a flat in Woodlands, rented by the 22-year-old man, who was later traced and arrested.

Officers from Tanglin Police Division, Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Commercial Affairs Department conducted the extensive follow-up investigations.

Modus operandi of scam

Preliminary investigations revealed that the victim had received an unsolicited call supposedly from a Ministry of Health (MOH) officer.

The scammer alleged that the victim had a parcel detained at the customs which contained illegal Covid-19 medicine.

The victim was then routed to another scammer masquerading as the “China Police”.

The scammer further alleged that a bank card in the victim’s name was found to be involved in money laundering activities in China, and that the banking facilities belonging to her and her family would be frozen as a result.

The scammer then suggested that the victim could transfer money for her case to be expedited.

Under such a ruse, the victim was allegedly deceived into transferring S$170,000 as “security deposit” to a bank account controlled by the scammer.

The scammer had also instructed the victim to take a video of herself with her hands and legs bounded to pretend that she had been captured.

The victim was told that the video would be used for their investigations to lure and arrest the syndicate members.

On Oct. 13, the scammer instructed the victim to isolate herself and cease communication with others to facilitate their investigations.

Follow-up investigations revealed that the 22-year-old man had purportedly acted on the scammer’s instructions to rent the room for the victim, and had handed over a SIM card for the victim to use for communication with the scammer.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Background

From January to September 2022, a total of 548 China officials impersonation scam cases were reported in Singapore, with losses amounting to at least S$67.9 million.

The Singapore police said they would like to highlight that the China police, Interpol, and other overseas law enforcement agencies have no jurisdiction to conduct operations in Singapore, arrest anyone, or ask members of the public to help with any form of investigations without the approval of the Singapore government.

The police added that they take a serious view against any person who may be involved in scams, whether knowingly or unwittingly, and they would be dealt with severely in accordance with the law.

Advisory

The police advised members of the public to take precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties and have the “+” prefix which originate overseas.

One precaution is to ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions as no government agency will instruct payment through a telephone call or other social messaging platforms, such as WeChat or Facebook, or ask for personal banking information, such as your internet banking passwords.

Another precaution is to call the embassy or High Commission of one's own country to verify the claims of the caller if foreigners receive calls from persons claiming to be from the police in one's home country.

Other precautions include not giving out personal information and bank details, whether on websites or to callers over the phone, as personal information and bank details, such as internet bank account usernames and passwords, OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals.

The public is also urged to not make any fund transfers if the caller is of dubious identity.

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

Those with any information related to such crime can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or dial "999" for urgent police assistance.

To seek scam-related advice, members of the public may call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg.

All photos via Singapore Police Force