SINGAPORE — The police on Friday (March 19) issued a warning about a new kind of e-commerce scam, in which the seller provides a fake police report and claims to be verified by the Government.

As part of the scam, victims would be told by sellers to move their communications outside of online marketplace Carousell and onto the Telegram mobile application instead.

On the messaging app, the sellers would claim that their shop was verified by the Government by providing forged police reports.

The victims would then be asked to transfer payment to a bank account number before the products can be delivered.

In the cases that have occurred so far, “the victims only discovered that they had been scammed when they allegedly did not receive their goods and the seller became unresponsive,” the police said.

To avoid falling for these scams, the police advised members of the public to follow these crime prevention measures:

• Verify the authenticity of police reports by contacting the relevant police station, becuse government agencies do not endorse commercial entities

• Only make purchases from authorised sellers or reputable sources, especially when dealing with high-value items

• Refrain from transacting with sellers off the main verified e-commerce platform

• Opt for buyer protection by using in-built payment options and avoid making advance payments or direct bank transfers

• Verify sellers’ profile through customer reviews and ratings

To provide information on such scams, members of the public may go to www.police.gov.sg/iwitness or call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000.

For more information, visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688.