Email from 'traffic police' about parking fine is fake, police warns

SINGAPORE — In a new scam, criminals are sending emails claiming that the recipient has an outstanding parking fine, the police warned in a news release on Monday (April 24).

These scammers are impersonating the Traffic Police, and include a link in the email for the recipient to download a copy of a bogus parking ticket, as well as another link to a website and a phone number to pay the fine using a credit card.

The fake email typically tells the would-be victim that a court appearance for the parking offence is required.

In a screenshot of such a scam email sent by the police, several giveaways should have raised recipients' suspicions.

The sender was listed as pjwl [at] nartoi.com.br - a domain extension for Brazil.

The number in the fake email also uses the 866 area code, which is not assigned to a geographical area.

There have been several versions of police impersonation scams of late.

For instance, the police said last month that victims lost an "extensive" amount of money when they fell for a scam after getting calls claiming they are the holders of bank accounts with excessively large amounts of money.

The victims were told that they were suspected of being involved in criminal activities such as money laundering.

The victims were then given a link to a website that looked like the official Singapore Police Force (SPF) website, and were asked to follow instructions to provide confidential information - such as credit card details and Internet banking credentials - purportedly for investigations.

The website, however, is a phishing site, designed to extract victims' personal information and banking details, the police said.

In a news release, the police stressed that no government agency would ask for payments through a telephone call, especially to a third party's bank account.

They advised members of the public to ignore emails from unknown parties.

Recipients should not click on any links, open any file attachments or respond to such emails.

If the email asks for money to be remitted or transferred, the request should be ignored. The same goes for requests for personal information and bank details, whether on a website or over the phone.

The police warned: "Personal information and bank details such as Internet bank account usernames and passwords, OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals."

Those who are in doubt about scams or such emails can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.

Those who require urgent assistance from the police should dial 999.

To seek scam-related advice, members of the public can call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg, the police added.