SINGAPORE – People have lost at least $311,000 to fake friend call scams since March, with the police advising the public to be careful of the resurgence of this ruse. <\/p>\n
There were at least 146 such cases during this period, the police said in a statement on April 24.<\/p>\n
In these cases, victims would receive unsolicited calls or messages from a scammer, who would ask victims to guess who they are.<\/p>\n
The victims would try to match the caller to a known contact, and the scammer on the other end of the line would then assume that identity.<\/p>\n
The scammer would subsequently contact victims again for urgent financial help, or assistance in performing a banking transaction.<\/p>\n
Victims would be given a local bank account, PayNow number or QR code to transfer the money, and would discover that they had been scammed only after contacting their actual friends or acquaintances whom the scammers had impersonated. <\/p>\n
The police noted that in some cases, the victims would also receive another call from another scammer, pretending to be from the police or the Monetary Authority of Singapore. <\/p>\n
The scammer would ask about the victims\u2019 earlier fund transfers and allege that they were linked to criminal activities. <\/p>\n
The victims would then be told to transfer more money for investigation purposes.<\/p>\n
The police advised the public to be careful when receiving a call from an unknown number, asking for urgent financial help.<\/p>\n
Also, they should never transfer money to anyone unless their identity is verified through other sources.<\/p>\n
Government officials will not ask the public to transfer money, luxury watches, gold or cryptocurrency over the phone, the police said.<\/p>\n
Also, the government will never ask for bank login details, to install mobile apps from unofficial app stores transfer calls to the police. <\/p>\n <\/a><\/figure>\n From January to April 2025, victims reported losses of about $653,000 to fake friend call scams here, with at least 187 cases reported in that time. <\/p>\n This scam was among the top 10 types of ruses in Singapore in 2025, with 1,551 cases and $4.7 million in losses<\/span><\/a> reported that year.<\/p>\n To learn more about scams, visit\u00a0http:\/\/www.scamshield.gov.sg<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a>\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or call the ScamShield hotline at 1799.<\/p>\n To provide information about such scams, call the police at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at\u00a0http:\/\/www.police.gov.sg\/i-witness<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/picture><\/div>\n