The Police alerted the public to a variant of the impersonation of Police officer scam, involving a fake SPF website. Victims typically receive calls from scammers claiming that they are the holders of bank accounts with excessively large amounts of money and are suspected of being involved in criminal activities such as money laundering.
The victims are then given a link to a website that bears resemblance to the SPF website and asked to follow the instructions to provide confidential information such as credit card details and internet banking credentials, purportedly for investigation purposes. However, it is actually a phishing site in disguise, designed to extract useful personal information and privileged banking details of unsuspecting victims, resulting in extensive monetary losses most reported cases.
The screenshots below show the fake “E-Services” pages where such illicit phishing activities were perpetrated.
The Police clarified that the official SPF website is www.police.gov.sg. Members of the public were also advised by the Police to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties:
- Ignore the calls. Scammers may use Caller ID spoofing technology to mask the actual phone number and display a different number. Calls that appear to be from a local number may not actually be made from Singapore. If you receive a suspicious call from a local number, hang up, wait five minutes, then call the number back to check the validity of the request.
- Ignore instructions to remit or transfer money. No government agency will inform you to make a payment through a telephone call, especially to a third party’s bank account.
- Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on the website or to callers over the phone. Personal information and bank details such as internet bank account usernames and passwords, OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals.
- If you have information related to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit the information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. Please dial ‘999’ if you require urgent Police assistance.
Members of the public may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 to seek scam-related advice. They are also advised to share this advisory with family and friends to prevent them from being the next scam victim.