More S'poreans fall prey to "lucky draw" phone scams

[Eomer]

More S'poreans fall prey to "lucky draw" phone scams
Posted: 23 December 2012 1628 hrs

Photo illustration. (AFP/Illustration - Jay Directo)

SINGAPORE: More Singaporeans fell prey to lucky draw phone scams in the first eight months of the year.

Police said there were 234 reported cases in the period, of which 134 victims were cheated of their money.

Between January and August last year, there were 201 reported cases of lucky draw phone scams and 123 victims who were cheated.

The amount of money cheated from victims went up by 21 per cent to S$4.6 million, compared to S$3.8 million in the same period last year.

Police said victims include professionals, youths and senior citizens.

Tricksters would typically call their victims and inform them that they have won a prize in a lucky draw overseas.

In order to redeem the prize, which could be a luxury car or air tickets, the victim will have to pay a processing fee or tax upfront.

After receiving the first payment via bank transfers, the tricksters would ask for subsequent payments.

The victim usually realises he or she has been cheated when the culprit becomes uncontactable.

Police advised the public to call 999 immediately if they receive a lucky draw phone scam call.

The public should not make any advance payment to claim any prize.

On the other hand, fewer phone kidnap scam cases were reported in the first eight months of the year.

Police said it received 251 reports from the public. This is a 36 per cent fall from the same period last year, which saw 393 cases.

Of the reported cases, 20 individuals lost S$115,000 to scammers.

The amount lost registered a 39 per cent fall as compared to the period between January and August last year, where victims were cheated of S$189,000.

In these scams, the modus operandi involves the culprits calling the victims to inform them that their family member had been kidnapped.

The family member who was purportedly kidnapped would plead for help over the phone.

The victims would then be compelled to pay a ransom via a selected remittance centre.

Police said some of the remittance centres where victims were often instructed to proceed to are located in Ang Mo Kio Central, People's Park Complex and Pearl's Centre.

In almost all cases, the victim could negotiate with the culprit on the ransom sum to an amount that the victim could afford.

Members of the public are advised to call the police at 999 if they receive a phone kidnap scam call.

They should remain calm and contact their family member to confirm his or her safety, and should not remit any money to the scammers.

- CNA/xq

 

[Eomer]

Police caution against falling for lucky draw scams

AsiaOne
Sunday, Dec 23, 2012

Lucky draw phone scams first emerged in 2007 with 388 cases being reported involving a total monetary loss of $4m with the figure reaching a peak of 510 in 2008.

In the past three years from 2009-2011, the number of cases reported decreased from 377 to 298. However, the number of successful cheating cases in the corresponding period increased by 168 to 183 and the amount cheated more than doubled from $2.6m in to $6.4m.

In the first 8 months of 2012, the number of cases reported, number of successful cheating cases and amount cheated all saw an upward trend.

Typically in a lucky draw phone scam, the culprit will inform the victim that he/she had won a prize overseas.

The victim will be asked to pay some form of processing fees or tax upfront in order to redeem the prize. In view of the attractive prize, the victim will be enticed into making the payment to the culprit.

After the first payment, the victims will be continually engaged to make subsequent payments. The victim usually realises that he/she is cheated when the culprit becomes uncontactable or when advised by a family member or friend.

The culprits are very innovative. The culprit may suggest to the victim to convert the prize into cash when the prize is in kind (e.g.: a luxury car).

The culprit may also cite a company name to lend credibility to his scam. In addition, the culprit may go to great lengths to put up a convincing stage to cheat the victim. This may include inviting the victim to participate in a survey, claiming that the draw was televised, providing a website and code to check the authenticity of the company/lucky draw, etc.

As an example, there were recent reports of people receiving calls from culprits purportedly calling from Hong Kong that they had won prizes in the form of luxury cars, luxury watches, air tickets or cash. As expected, the victims were asked to make payments as part of processing or administrative fees.

In most cases, the culprits would get the victims to make money transfer via banks. There are also cases where the culprit asks the victim to make money transfer via remittance agencies.

The victims were from all walks of life including professionals, youths and senior citizens. As the scam is generally perpetrated in Mandarin, foreigners who speak this language could become victims as well.

Members of public who believe that they have received a lucky draw phone scam call should do the following:

- Call the police immediately at '999' to report the case;

- Do not make any advance payment to claim any prize money. Winning a lucky draw or lottery does not require you to make any advance payment; and

- Ignore such notifications especially when you did not purchase any ticket or participate in any such draws.

 

[Hudson]

Moral of the story - do not succumb to the temptation of greed.

Especially so when one need to put out some $$ up front.

 

[Magic]

Moral of the story - You are better off brainless than being greedy and stupid.