Two men arrested for allegedly impersonating police officers and scamming victims of $30k
[video=youtube;-AZzr_Cj90Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AZzr_Cj90Q[/video]
Published 5 hours ago
Shea Driscoll
SINGAPORE - Two men in their 30s have been arrested for their suspected involvement in a scam in which they impersonated police officers.
A bank alerted the police on Monday (Aug 1) that a man was making suspicious transactions from his bank account while another seemed to be acting as a lookout.
Investigations revealed that two women, aged 36 and 65, had received separate calls on July 26 from unknown people who claimed to be police officers.
Unicef.fr
The victims were told that they were involved in illegal activities and were directed to a website to enter their personal details, Internet banking credentials and one-time passwords,w hich were to be sent to the scammers for "investigation purposes".
The victims later discovered that about $30,200 had been transferred from their bank accounts to the suspect's account via Internet banking.
Both suspects - one aged 33 and the other 35 - were arrested at Punggol Central on Monday.
If convicted of dishonestly receiving stolen property, the 35-year-old could be jailed up to five years, fined, or both. Investigations against the 33-year-old man are still ongoing.
The police, in a news release on Tuesday night (Aug 2), advised the public to do the following when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties:
- Ignore the calls as scammers may use caller ID spoofing technology to display a different phone number. Calls that seem to be from a local number may not actually be made from Singapore.
- Ignore instructions to remit or transfer money. No Government agency will ask for payment through a telephone call, especially to a third-party bank account.
- Don't give out personal information and bank details.
