Sixteen people were cheated by scammers who posed as officers from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) between January and July, with one losing $1.7 million. The police raised the alert on this variant of government official impersonation scams in a statement yesterday.

The victims had received unsolicited robocalls purportedly from the Singapore High Court. The calls were supposedly transferred to a police officer, who informed the victims that they were being investigated for money-laundering activities.

The conversations are then moved onto messaging apps Line or WhatsApp, with non-users instructed to download either of them.

The victims are purportedly shown a fake SPF warrant card and fake letters indicating that they are under investigation.

They would then be instructed to surrender their money for investigation by transferring their money to various bank accounts controlled by the scammers.

The victims were allegedly promised that the money transferred to these accounts would be returned to them upon the completion of the investigation.

They discovered they had been scammed only when the scammer asked for further fund transfers and did not return the money transferred earlier.

The police said they will not instruct members of the public to transfer money to bank accounts for investigation.

They added that no local government agency will request personal details or money transfers over the phone or through automated voice machines.

Officers will also not identify themselves with the SPF warrant card on online platforms.

Those in doubt can dial 999 or approach a police officer at a neighbourhood police centre.

Those with information related to such crimes can call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000, or submit the information online at www.police.gov. sg/iwitness

For more information on scams, visit www.scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam hotline on 1800-722-6688.