Police on Friday, arrested three men aged between 18 and 26 in connection with at least 180 cases of loanshark harassment SMS scams.

Victims of the scam would receive text messages claiming that their particulars had been used to borrow money from loansharks, and threatened to harass them and vandalise their homes - by splashing paint or with fire - if they did not pay up.

While most of the victims had no prior dealings with loansharks, some transferred money to bank accounts provided by the scammers out of fear.

Following extensive inquiries, the suspects were arrested at Hougang and Ceylon Road by officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and Police Intelligence Department. Several handphones, laptops, ATM cards and USB drives were also seized during a six-hour operation on Friday.

Polcie have advise members of the public to be aware of such scams, keep their personal particulars and sensitive information such as SingPass log-in details confidential, and to not give-in or reply to such unsolicited text messages.