22 nabbed for suspected involvement in government official impersonation scams
A total of 22 people, aged between 22 and 56, were arrested for their suspected involvement in the recent spate of government official impersonation scam cases.
In a news release on May 28, police said the 17 men and five women were nabbed following islandwide anti-scam operations conducted between March 13 and May 22.
Another four men and five women, aged between 22 and 77, are assisting in the investigations.
Police said they have received several reports of scam cases involving the impersonation of banks and government officials since early March.
The victim would first receive an unsolicited call from a scammer impersonating a bank officer, typically from DBS, OCBC, UOB or Standard Chartered Bank, or a staff of China-based services such as Union Pay and WeChat, police said.
The scammer would tell the victim that he or she was suspected of being involved in a criminal matter, then connect them to another scammer posing as a police officer.
This "police officer" would convince the victim to surrender valuables such as cash, jewellery and bank cards to an "agent" for investigation.
In some cases, the victims would be instructed to buy gold bars, which they would then give up to an "agent".
Preliminary investigations showed that the 31 people had allegedly facilitated such scam cases by collecting the valuables from the victims.
These mules would meet the victims in public places to collect the items from them. They would later hand the items over to another mule, or leave them unattended at a public place to be picked up later.
"Victims would only realise that they had been scammed when the scammers become uncontactable or when they sought verifications with the banks or SPF," police said.
Police investigations are ongoing. Those convicted of assisting another to retain benefits from a scam could face a jail term of up to three years, a fine, or both.
"The police take a serious stance against any person who may be involved in scams, and perpetrators will be dealt with in accordance with the law," they added.
"To avoid being an accomplice to crimes, members of the public should always reject requests by others to use your bank account or mobile lines as you will be held accountable if these are linked to crimes."
Government officials will never, over a phone call, ask them to transfer money, disclose bank log-in details, install mobile apps from unofficial app stores or transfer their call to the police, they said.
Police also encouraged members of the public to adopt crime prevention measures, such as installing the ScamShield app, setting security features and checking for scam signs with official sources.
In 2024, victims lost a total of $1.1 billion to scams - a record high for a single year. Police also saw the highest number of scam reports ever in the same year, with 51,501 cases recorded compared with 46,563 cases in 2023.
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