The Police media release published all 9 photos of the scammers who impersonates as Singapore Police Force officer.
Data from the Police reveals that in 2022 alone there are already over 900 cases of phishing scams. The Police would like to alert members of the public to the re-emergence of a variant of phishing scams where scammers would impersonate as officers from the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
How it works?
The victims will received calls in their Whatsapp and a so called “Police” officer will be speaking to the victim, the Whatsapp will also contain the insignia or picture of officers from SPF as their profile picture to reinforce their ruse. In some cases, the caller would initiate a video call through these messaging applications while dressed in a uniform similar to those worn by SPF officers.
During the conversation with the scammers, victims would be asked to provide their personal information, banking credentials and One-Time Password (OTP) for verification purposes or to assist in investigations. Using the information provided by victims, the scammers would then create an e-wallet using applications such as DBS PayLah!, Singtel Dash or GrabPay in the name of the victims, and top up the said e-wallet through the victim’s bank account. In some cases, victims would be told to make cash top-ups to the e-wallets at AXS machines or at convenience stores.
The victims would later receive notifications informing that various transactions were made from their bank account to their e-wallet and would only realise that they have been scammed when they contact the banks to verify these transactions.
The Police would like to emphasise that these calls were not made by police officers. Government agencies will never contact members of the public via messaging applications to obtain your personal information, banking credentials or OTPs.