SINGAPORE: The Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Thursday (Dec 21) warned of a scam variant involving the impersonation of MAS officers.
At least 41 people have fallen victim to the scam since January 2023, losing at least S$2.6 million (US$1.95 million) in total, SPF and MAS said in a joint news release.
The scam would usually start with victims receiving unsolicited calls from scammers impersonating bank officers, requesting verification of banking transactions that they allegedly conducted.
“When victims denied making such transactions or possessing such bank cards, the scammer would transfer the call to a second scammer claiming to be an officer from the MAS,” said the authorities.
The second scammer would accuse victims of being involved in criminal activities like money laundering or fraud. Sometimes, a third scammer would be involved, pretending to be an SPF officer for “further investigation”.
Under various pretexts like investigation, resetting the victim’s credit card’s magnetic stripe or processing a “government insurance policy”, scammers would instruct victims to transfer money to “security accounts” that supposedly belonged to SPF, MAS or other authorities.
Scammers would also request for victim’s banking credentials, credit card details, or one-time passwords.
“Victims would realise that they had been scammed when culprits become uncontactable or when they subsequently verified their situation with the banks or with SPF through official channels,” said the authorities.
Source: CNA
