36-year-old man arrested for impersonating police officer in phone scam

SINGAPORE — A 36-year-old man was arrested on Monday (July 25) for allegedly posing as a police officer to scam a woman out of S$32,000.

The Singapore Police said they were alerted by a bank on Monday about a man who was making suspicious transactions from his bank account. Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and Commercial Affairs Department proceeded to investigate the incident.

The investigations found that a 37-year old woman had received a call at around 10am from someone claiming to be a police officer. The woman was told that as part of an investigation, the police needed her personal details and banking information and passwords — which she duly gave. Later that day, the woman found that S$32,000 had been transferred from her bank account.

The suspect was arrested later that day at around 5.45pm. He will be charged in court on Wednesday with Dishonestly Receiving Stolen Property. If convicted, he may face up to five years in prison, a fine, or both.

Last month, various government agencies, such as the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) issued advisories cautioning the public against scams, mostly involving impersonations.

In one case, the police had warned of scammers who claimed to be from courier companies or who impersonated government officials. These scammers would then instruct their victims to download a certain app, which may introduce malware onto their mobile phones.

The CNB on June 22 warned of a person or persons impersonating a CNB officer and requesting money via WhatsApp. In this case, the scammer had messaged members of the public, informing them that they “have cases with CNB”.

And just the week before on June 17, the MOM said that had been a scammer posing as a MOM or a government officer, asking victims to transfer money to an account to resolve issues related to their stay in Singapore or work pass application.