Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Accused of a crime, woman transfers S$500,000 to scammers to clear her name

SINGAPORE — On Sept 2, Ms Zhou (not her real name) received a phone call from someone claiming to be a DHL representative, informing her that the company had received a suspicious parcel in her name that was being sent to China. In the parcel, purportedly, were some clothes, 21 fake passports and 11 credit cards. They did not belong to her.

The Singapore Police Force said that it has received 92 reports of what is called the Chinese Officials Impersonation Scam between January and May this year with at least S$5.3 million cheated.

The Singapore Police Force said that it has received 92 reports of what is called the Chinese Officials Impersonation Scam between January and May this year with at least S$5.3 million cheated.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — On Sept 2, Ms Zhou (not her real name) received a phone call from someone claiming to be a DHL representative, informing her that the company had received a suspicious parcel in her name that was being sent to China. In the parcel, purportedly, were some clothes, 21 fake passports and 11 credit cards. They did not belong to her.

Ms Zhou’s phone call was transferred to a Singaporean “police officer” and some “Chinese authorities”, who accused her of being involved in a money laundering scheme.

Desperate to clear her name, she did what she was told and ended up transferring a total of S$500,000 to the scammers.

Ms Zhou fell prey to what the Singapore Police Force (SPF) has called a Chinese Officials Impersonation Scam. The SPF said that it has received 92 reports of such scams between January and May this year with at least S$5.3 million cheated.

According to the SPF, such impersonation scams typically involve a person pretending to be a staff of a courier company, or an officer from some government organisation. The victim will be told that he has been involved in some illegal activity. The scammer will then ask for the victim’s personal particulars and bank account details.

“In some cases, the call would be transferred to another person who would identify himself as a police officer from China. Victims might be shown a copy of a warrant for their arrest from the China Police and (be) threatened with imprisonment if they did not co-operate,” the SPF said.

VICTIM ASKED TO PROVE HER WEALTH

That was what Ms Zhou went through, as she recounted her experience to the media in an interview on Friday (Sept 20).

The 21-year-old Chinese national was convinced that the call from the DHL representative was legitimate because she sounded like a Singaporean.

The DHL representative then transferred her call to someone impersonating a Singaporean police officer, who subsequently referred her to two men pretending to be from the Chinese authorities.

To show that she was wealthy enough to not need to be involved in a money laundering scheme, Ms Zhou was told to transfer money to the scammers.

The scammers instructed her to check herself into a hotel in order to give them an oral statement. They further isolated her from her friends and family by instructing her not to tell anyone about the case as it was “top secret”.

They also taught Ms Zhou how to lie to her father to get him to transfer the money. She was told to inform her father that her school had asked for a renewal of her financial statement. Her father, believing her, made the first transfer on Sept 3.

Subsequently, the scammers said that the money had bounced and they had not received it. They also requested more money to cover some “security deposit” and the “investigation”.

Ms Zhou’s father ended up borrowing from friends.

Ms Zhou stayed at the hotel until Sept 7 when she was found by the police. They were looking for her as her boyfriend had filed a missing person’s report on Sept 6.

It was at this point that Ms Zhou realised she was a victim of a scam.

A PREVENTABLE CRIME

Superintendent Chew Jingwei, who heads the syndicated fraud branch at the Commercial Affairs Department, said that such scams are “preventable crimes” as victims can actually take steps to protect themselves against such scams.

He added that because these cases are often first reported as a missing person’s case, the police have to expend a substantial amount of resources to locate the “so-called missing person”.

The police advised the public to take precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties.

They added that no government agency will ask for personal details or for money to be transferred over the phone or through automated machines.

Earlier in August, the SPF announced that a new Anti-Scam Centre had been set up to disrupt scammers’ operations and mitigate victims’ losses as scam cases have been on the rise recently. The centre started its operations in June.

Related topics

scam cheating police impersonation

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.