Victims lose more than S$1m to fake China govt official scam; nearly 400 cases reported in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Residents here have lost more than S$1 million to a phone scam involving a fake Chinese government official, the police warned on Saturday (April 16) as they urged the public to be careful when responding to unsolicited calls.

“No government agency will instruct payment through a telephone call and direct you to pay to a third party’s bank account,” the police said in an advisory.

Close to 400 police reports have been made in Singapore over the scam. According to the police, the victims would first receive calls from persons claiming to be employees of courier companies or banks in China.

The victims were then told that their identities had been used to send parcels containing fake passports or weapons, or were used to apply for overseas credit cards.

Later, the victims would be referred to another caller claiming to be a customs officer, a police officer or a government official from China. The fake Chinese official would then ask for the victims’ personal particulars including their names, identification numbers, address, passport numbers and bank account numbers.

The scammers would then threaten legal action against the victims, and instruct them to remit monies to China so that the authorities would not pursue the matter.

The police is urging anyone with information related to this or other similar scams to call their hotline at 1800-255 0000, or dial ‘999’ for urgent assistance.