The caller is probably not the police and is more likely to be a scammer who has managed to fake the number with a new ruse.

The police on Monday issued a warning that there have been several reports of such phone scams in the first three months of this year.

While such scams are not new and have grown in prominence in the past year or so, the tricksters appear to have adopted a new method of snaring their prey.

They somehow manipulate the calls such that the recipients will see the caller IDs as being from the authorities.

Besides 999, other caller IDs that victims may see on their mobile phones include 6338-1034 (the Supreme Court Enquiry hotline) and 6435-0000 (the Criminal Investigation Department's hotline).

The scammers claim they are calling from the authorities and tell victims they are involved in criminal cases or court hearings.

The victims are then told to transfer money to a bank account to exonerate themselves from these cases.

Sometimes, the victims are told their next-of-kin has been kidnapped and would be harmed if money is not transferred to a bank account.

The police on Monday said that while its officers do inform people over the phone on court dates and appointments at the police station, they will never ask for money to be deposited into a bank.

In fact, the caller ID would never appear as '999', a police spokesman told The Straits Times, as they do not make calls to the public using the emergency hotline.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.