SINGAPORE – At least $2.9 million has been lost in February so far to a scam variant in which victims were duped into handing over valuables such as gold bars, jewellery and luxury watches to imposters posing as government officials.
In an advisory on Feb 20, the Singapore Police Force said at least 18 reports have been lodged so far this month involving government official impersonation scams with the physical collection of valuables.
In these cases, victims received unsolicited calls from scammers claiming to be representatives of insurance or financial institutions, or retailers.
The callers alleged that the victims had outstanding insurance premiums or had made bank card transactions.
When the victims denied the claims, they were transferred to other scammers posing as officials from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) or the Ministry of Law.
The victims were then accused of being involved in criminal activities such as money laundering and were sent fake documents, including purported “warrants of arrest” or “financial inspection orders”.
