Woman scammed of over S$80,000 from fake police website

SINGAPORE — A woman was scammed of over S$80,000 after providing her personal information and banking details on a fake Singapore Police Force (SPF) website, said the police in an advisory issued on Wednesday (Sept 21).

The 41-year-old woman had received a call from an unknown person claiming to be a police officer.

The caller had alleged that the woman was involved in money laundering activities, and she was provided with a link to a website to key in her personal details and internet banking credentials, purportedly for investigation purposes.

Subsequently, the victim discovered that her internet banking account was accessed illegally and multiple unauthorised transactions were made, resulting in a loss of over S$80,000.

Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the said website bore resemblance to the SPF website with changes made to the “E-Services” page.

In its advisory, the police has warned members of the public to exercise caution  when receiving unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties.

One advice is to ignore instructions to remit or transfer money, as “no government agency will inform you to make a payment through a telephone call, especially to a third party's bank account”, said the police.

It has also advised members of the public to ignore the calls. “Scammers may use Caller ID spoofing technology to mask the actual phone number and display a different number.  Calls that appear to be from a local number may not actually be made from Singapore,” it added.