Over 30 arrested, close to S$1mil seized in Singapore’s islandwide blitz against impersonation scams

SINGAPORE: More than 30 people were arrested and over 240 bank accounts were frozen following an islandwide police operation against government official impersonation scams.

In a statement on Tuesday (April 1), the police said 27 men and seven women – aged between 17 and 46 – were nabbed during raids targeting suspects who gave their bank accounts to scammers for use in money laundering.

During the operation from March 17 to 28, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department’s Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) worked with local banks to trace the money lost by scam victims.

At least $955,000 in suspected scam proceeds were seized and the bank accounts involved in the movement of funds were frozen.

Five other people are being investigated, said police, adding that they also worked with telecommunication companies to terminate more than 700 phone lines linked to the scams.

In such government official impersonation scams, scammers would contact victims through fraudulently obtained phone numbers or via messaging platforms.

Some would pretend to be employees of companies such as DBS, Maybank, OCBC, NTUC Union, Income Insurance, and UnionPay, while others may pose as government officials from the police, Anti-Scam Centre (ASC), or the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Victims who received calls from the fake bank officers would be asked to verify transactions allegedly made by them, said police.

The call would be transferred to a second scammer claiming to be a government official.

In another variant of the scam, victims would be told by fraudsters pretending to be NTUC Union, Income Insurance, or Unionpay employees that they had outstanding premiums associated with a new or expiring life insurance policy under their name.

They would then be redirected to another scammer, who would prompt the victim for personal information such as their bank account details under the guise of verifying their policy details.

The victims would be told that the outstanding fees would be automatically deducted from their bank accounts, unless they cancel their policy.

However, to do so, victims were asked to verify their bank accounts by performing transfers to a specified bank account, while being given false reassurance that their money would be refunded after their policies were cancelled.

Victims of both these scam variants would finally be redirected to another scammer posing as a police, ASC or MAS officer.

They would then be informed that their bank accounts have been implicated in money laundering activities, or that their personal information had been compromised, and would be prompted to transfer money to a specified bank account to assist in investigations.

After complying with instructions, victims would only realise they were scammed after failing to receive their refunds or after the scammers become uncontactable.

According to the police, there were 1,504 government official impersonation scam cases reported in 2024, with victims losing $151.3 million.

“To avoid being an accomplice to crime, members of the public should always reject requests by others to use their SingPass credentials, bank accounts or mobile lines, as one could be held accountable if these are linked to crimes,” said police.

In its statement, the police reminded the public that government officials would not ask for money to be transferred to bank accounts or request for banking, SingPass or CPF-related information over the phone.

NTUC Union, Income Insurance, and Unionpay representatives would also never ask for personal information or payments to a personal bank account through unsolicited phone calls, e-mails, WhatsApp messages or SMS. – The Straits Times/ANN