Singapore consultancy firm recovers S$58K from business email scam with help from Singapore police, UAE, and Interpol

SINGAPORE: A consultancy firm based in Singapore has recovered over US$45,000 (S$58,400) after being tricked into transferring money to a fraudulent supplier. This was made possible through a collaborative effort involving the Singapore police, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities, and Interpol, as reported by The Straits Times.

The firm reported the incident to the police on Sept 18, stating it had fallen victim to a business email scam, according to a news release from the police on Oct 3.

Investigations showed that an employee had received an email on Sept 12 from someone posing as a supplier. This email informed the company to transfer payment for goods to a new bank account in the UAE.

What the employee didn’t notice was that the original email address had “.com” replaced with “.store”, the police said.

On Sept 18, the employee proceeded with a transfer of US$45,532 to the alleged supplier. Unfortunately, the funds were sent to a fraudulent bank account in the UAE. The scam was uncovered later that day when the real supplier contacted the firm, clarifying that it had not changed its banking details.

After conducting investigations, the police’s Anti-Scam Command successfully retrieved the lost funds with assistance from the UAE authorities and Interpol, utilising Interpol’s rapid response system known as Global Rapid Intervention of Payments.

The police stated that this successful recovery highlights the “critical importance of international cooperation” in tackling transnational scams, where perpetrators function in a borderless environment. /TISG

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