Since January 2024, at least two victims have fallen prey to government official impersonation scams.

The total losses amount to at least S$73,000.

In a news release on May 27, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) reminded the public to remain vigilant against scams in which the scammer impersonates officers from the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) seeking victims' assistance in investigations.

Receive unsolicited robocalls

SPF shared that victims would receive unsolicited robocalls from local mobile lines claiming to be from ASC.

Victims would be informed that they are being investigated and must report to the Police Cantonment Complex for an interview.

They would then be guided to press "0" to speak to an operator. However, they would be directed to scammers, who would then request the victim's details, such as their identification number, as part of the verification process.

Victims will then be transferred again to another scammer impersonating a police investigation officer, who will re-engage the victim via WhatsApp call to continue the conversation.

Victims of such scams are tricked into disclosing personal details such as bank account details, personal credentials, SingPass passwords, or Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) One-Time Passwords (OTPs) to assist in investigations.

Such information would then be misused to access the victims' bank accounts to enable unauthorised transactions or create a new bank account under the victims' name to enable criminal activities.

In previous cases, victims were instructed to transfer money to a bank account to assist in financial investigations.

"The Police will never ask for an individual's personal details such as identification number, bank account details, SingPass password or 2FA OTP over the phone or social messaging platforms such as WhatsApp to assist in investigations," said SPF.

SPF added that they would never ask an individual to transfer money into a bank account under their name or another person's name to assist in investigations.

Top photos via SPF & Canva