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A single phone call was all it took for a woman to lose $16,000 from her savings account.<\/p>\n
The 37-year-old, Yan (transliterated), had received a call on Feb 27 from someone claiming to be an employee at HSBC Bank, she told Shin Min Daily News.<\/p>\n
The employee told her that her account had been flagged for suspicious transactions on a new credit card, though Yan insisted that she had not applied for any new credit cards.<\/p>\n
The employee subsequently claimed that Yan’s Singpass information must have been stolen and that the authorities would contact her for a follow-up investigation.<\/p>\n
Yan also told Shin Min that the supposed HSBC employee spoke fluent English with a local accent, and was even able to recall her full name and identification number, which made her more inclined to believe him.<\/p>\n
She later received another call from a man purporting to be a police officer, who told her that she was involved in a $2 million money laundering case.<\/p>\n
The man claimed the case was “highly confidential”, and told Yan that she would be arrested if she released any information.<\/p>\n
He also threatened to have her bank accounts frozen and her family members implicated if she did not comply with his instructions.<\/p>\n
Yan said that he also sent her many documents that looked authentic, and that she felt overwhelmed from the phone call, especially since she was unable to verify the information with anyone else.<\/p>\n
Another man purporting to be a senior police officer joined the phone call and told Yan that her name could be cleared if she transferred her existing funds into a “safe account”.<\/p>\n
While she was doubtful, the men continued to pressure her and reassure her that the money would be returned.<\/p>\n
She ultimately transferred $16,000, only to realise that she had fallen to a scam, after which she made a police report.<\/p>\n
“I learnt from this experience and hope to take this opportunity to urge the public to be wary of scammers and not to trust calls from strangers, especially those involving money transfers,” she told Shin Min.<\/p>\n
The police have repeatedly reminded the public that government officials will never ask anyone to transfer money over the phone, request bank details, transfer a call to the police, or instruct anyone to install mobile apps from unofficial app stores. \u00a0<\/p>\n
If in doubt, members of the public should tell the authorities, family members or friends about the encounter and report any fraudulent transactions to their bank immediately.<\/p>\n
They may also call the 24\/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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