Since January 2022, there have been at least 277 victims, with losses amounting to at least $30.3 million.
Victims would receive voice-recorded phone calls allegedly from the Ministry of Health, the High Court or other government agencies. When the victims followed the instructions on the call to make further contact, the call would be directed to scammers claiming to be a police officer. The scammers would inform the victims that they were being investigated for money laundering and other offences. The scammers would direct the victims to do any of the following:
- Provide their personal information and bank account information
- Open bank accounts
- Transfer money from their bank accounts to other bank accounts ostensibly for the purposes of Police investigations
- Report their movements daily
- Meet unknown subjects to hand over or collect fake documents from them
- Keep the investigations secret
Victims would only discover that they had been scammed when they realised that there were unauthorised transactions made from their bank accounts, or when the scammers did not return the money they had transferred for the purported “Police investigations”.
The Police would like to emphasise that overseas law enforcement agencies have no jurisdiction to conduct operations in Singapore, arrest anyone or ask members of the public to help with any form of investigations. The Police will never ask you to transfer money into another bank account for the purpose of investigations.