Postgrad student in Singapore gives S$200,000 parents’ life savings to ‘China officials’ impersonation scam

A Chinese national who wished to be called Albert arrived in Singapore in July 2022 to enrol at a local university and pursue a master’s degree in chemistry. Instead, he fell for an impersonation scam, resulting in the loss of his parents’ life savings.

It started when Albert received a call from a scammer claiming to be an officer from the Singapore Ministry of Health.

The call was later redirected to a scammer claiming to be a police officer from China.

The Singapore Police Force said in a news release last month that the scammer informed Albert that his personal information was used to open a bank account involved in money laundering activities in China.

He was then deceived into transferring more than S$200,000 as “bail money” to bank accounts provided by the scammer.

Albert followed the scammer’s instructions and recorded a video of himself to assist in “police investigations.”

“Without the victim’s knowledge, the scammer later sent the video to the victim’s parents in China and demanded a ransom to be paid for his release,” said SPF.

A 58-year-old man was arrested for his suspected involvement in the case while police investigations are ongoing.

Albert told The Straits Times on Sept 7 that the scammers told him he could be arrested if he didn’t follow their instructions.

“They said if I didn’t comply, they would come to Singapore to arrest me. I kept thinking, what if it’s true? What if they really can do that?” he said.

He admitted he never expected he would fall for a scam. Although his parents have forgiven him, he feels guilty about what happened.

SPF reminded the public that the China Police, INTERPOL, and other overseas law enforcement agencies have no jurisdiction to conduct operations in Singapore, arrest anyone or ask members of the public to help with any form of investigation without the approval of the Singapore Government.

Meanwhile, netizens wondered how people could still fall prey to such scams.

“Seriously?! With all the scams going on, there are still people naïve enough to transfer a large amount of money to ‘government officials,'” commented Facebook user Fish Khamphou in disbelief.

Many noted that even an educated individual could fall prey to scams.

“So sad being educated and in a moment of folly being scammed, not his but his parents’ hard-earned money,” said Facebook user Alice Long.

“Those who fell into this type of scam most probably suffered from a guilty conscience. If you have not broken the law or did some hanky panky stuff in the past, why should you be afraid of policemen?” asked a netizen. /TISG

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