SINGAPORE - The Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Friday (March 24) alerted the public to a fake SPF website, the latest in a string of such phishing sites masquerading as official government sites.
Screenshots provided by the police in their press release show a fake "E-Services" page that bears some resemblance to the official SPF website.
In one screenshot, police highlighted a number of links on the fake page that do not appear on the official SPF website at www.police.gov.sg.
Victims are taken in by scammers pretending to be police officers who tell them that they are suspected of being involved in money laundering due to excessively large amounts of money in their bank accounts.
The victims are then given the link to the fake SPF website and asked to follow instructions to provide confidential information such as credit card details and Internet banking credentials, purportedly for investigation purposes.
Armed with these details, the scammers then proceed to divest their victims of large amounts of money.
The Immigrations & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) also warned the public of a fake phishing ICA website on Friday.
SPF had previously warned of a similar fake website in September last year, in connection with a 41-year-old woman who lost $80,000 due to the scam.
Fake Facebook accounts of at least 13 People's Action Party MPs also surfaced last Friday (March 17).
Members of the public are advised to take the following precautions when receiving unsolicited calls:
- Ignore the calls. 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.
- If you have information related to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit the information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. Please dial 999 if you require urgent police assistance.
