SINGAPORE - A 24-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly posing as a police officer.
The police were alerted by a bank on Wednesday (July 27) that a man was making suspicious transactions from his bank account.
Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department investigated and found that a 32-year-old woman had received a call at around 11.30am from someone who claimed to be a police officer.
He told her she was involved in money laundering and provided a website for her to key in her personal details, Internet banking credentials and one-time password (OTP) for "investigation purposes".
She later discovered that about $19,900 had been transferred from her bank account to the suspect's.
He was arrested at about 2.05 pm that same day.
If found guilty, he could be jailed for up to five years and/or fined for the offence of dishonestly receiving stolen property.
This case is unrelated to an arrest of a 36-year-old man on Monday (July 25), also for suspected involvement in a scam involving the impersonation of police officer.
The police have warned the public to take precautions upon receiving unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties. Here are some tips:
- Ignore the calls. Scammers may use Caller ID spoofing technology to mask the actual phone number and display a different number. Calls that appear to be from a local number may not be made from Singapore. If you receive a suspicious call from a local number, hang up, wait five minutes, then call the number back to check the validity of the request;
- Ignore instructions to remit or transfer money. No government agency will inform you to make a payment through a telephone call, especially to a third party's bank account;
- Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on the website or to callers over the phone. Personal information and bank details such as Internet bank account usernames and passwords, OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals;
- Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgment;
- If you have information related to such crime or if you are in doubt, call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000, or dial 999 for urgent police assistance.
