SINGAPORE: The police on Wednesday (Oct 2) issued a warning about a new scam where a scammer poses as a Malaysian official.
In one such case, a man received a call from someone claiming to be from a Malaysian bank, who told him he had applied for a credit card and made a cash withdrawal with it.
The victim was told the bank would investigate the matter.
He subsequently received another call, this time from someone claiming to be a police officer from Malaysia.
“The caller alleged that the victim has made unauthorised credit card transactions, and sent the victim an image of a Malaysian police report purportedly lodged by the victim,” said the police in a news release.
The scammer sent his victim an image of a Malaysian police report purportedly lodged by the victim. (Image: Singapore Police Force)
He was then asked to provide his Internet banking credentials and One-Time Password (OTP) for the purpose of investigations.
Unauthorised transactions of S$10,000 made from his bank account were later discovered by him.
The police advised members of the public to ignore such calls and not to provide their personal details.
Scammers can also use caller ID spoofing technology to mask their actual phone number, and so calls that appear to be from a local number may not actually be made in Singapore, they added.
Earlier this year, the police warned of a re-emergence of a scam involving the impersonation of China officials.
Victims were cheated of at least S$4.8 million in 65 cases between January and April this year.
READ: Singapore police’s new anti-scam centre wants to hit scammers where it hurts
A new Anti-Scam Centre has also been set up within the Commercial Affairs Department to focus on disrupting scammers’ operations and to help victims mitigate their losses.
