Beware of return of phone impersonation scammers: Police

SINGAPORE —  Following a re-emergence of a phone impersonation scams, the police have issued an advisory urging the public to take precautions when they receive unsolicited phone calls.

The advisory cited how members of the public received calls that were purportedly made by courier companies and/or government officials in some cases.

For example, in one example, the caller claimed a parcel under the recipient’s name containing illegal goods was detained by the Chinese Customs. The call was later transferred to another person who identified himself to be from the police.

The scammer would direct recipients to provide their personal details and particulars, including internet banking credentials and One-Time Passwords (OTP), to the “Government Officer” for investigation purposes.

Victims would subsequently discover that their monies had been transferred from their bank account to other unknown bank accounts.

In some cases, the recipients were instructed by the scammers to transfer a sum of money using Bitcoin machines instead. Recipients will be sent a QR code by the scammers and told to scan it at the Bitcoin vending machine before depositing their money.

There were also some cases where the recipients were asked to withdraw money from their bank account to hand over to a “Government Officer” for verification purposes.

The police urged the public to take precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties and ignore the calls and callers’ instructions.

“No government agency will request for personal details or transfer of money over the phone or through automated voice machines,” said the police advisory.

Calls that look like it is from a local number may also not be made from Singapore, as the scammers may use “Caller ID spoofing” technology to mask the actual phone number.

The police advised that, to check the validity of the call, hang up and wait for five minutes before calling back.

The police added that no one should also not provide their name, identification number, passport, contact, bank or credit card details as such information are useful to criminals.