22 victims fall prey to new phone scam
POSTED: 08 May 2013 9:26 PM
SINGAPORE: A total of 22 people have fallen prey in the past month to a new phone scam, where a caller would claim to be an officer from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority.
In all, 49 cases were reported to the police.
Inspector Zhahir Hushan, a senior police officer, said: "The scammers would call from a hotline which is similar to ICA, which is 6391-6100. The scammers would then demand the victims to transfer money into their accounts, claiming that they had failed to fill up the disembarkation card or embarkation card properly.
"Noting this, the victims would move forward and transfer the funds. Police advise members of the public, upon receiving such calls, to either ignore the calls, not to transfer any funds or to call 999 immediately."
Police say the cases so far involved $36,811.
One of the victims told Channel NewsAsia he was cheated of $2,700, when he transferred through remittance company Western Union to accounts seemingly based in New Delhi, India.
- CNA/de
