19-year-old scam victim makes nude videos of herself out of fear, confusion 'to prove her innocence'

The video showed their daughter in torn clothing with her hands tied.

It was accompanied with a ransom demand from an unknown person communicating in Mandarin.

After receiving the video, the parents in China contacted their daughter's teacher in Singapore, who in turn contacted the police.

On Monday (April 17), the police received a report that a 19-year-old woman had allegedly been kidnapped, said police in a statement.

Officers from Clementi Police Division, Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Commercial Affairs Department conducted extensive follow-up investigations and tracked down the victim within six hours at Woodlands Checkpoint.

She was subsequently established to be a victim of a China Official Impersonation Scam.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the victim had received an unsolicited call early this month, purportedly from an Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer. The scammer alleged that the victim had spread false news on Covid-19 in Guangzhou, China.

The victim was then routed to another scammer who masqueraded as the “China police” for investigations. As part of the purported ongoing investigations, the victim was made to report to the “China police” in real time through continuous video calls 24/7 over a messaging application on her mobile phone.

The scammer further told the victim that she might be deported back to her home country to face prosecution if she was unable to furnish the bail amount. Under the ruse, the victim was requested to furnish 1 million yuan (S$194,000) as “bail”. The victim could not raise the bail amount.

Consequently, she was told to record and provide nude videos of herself to prove her innocence for a separate criminal case. The victim complied out of fear and in her confused state.

On Monday, the scammer instructed the victim to isolate herself and cease communication with others, to facilitate their investigations. The scammer instructed the victim to take a video recording of herself with her hands tied up to pretend that she had been captured. The victim was also told that the video would be used for their investigations to lure and arrest other syndicate members.

Unbeknownst to the victim, the scammers sent threats using the victim’s self-recorded video to her parents.

Police investigations into the case are ongoing.

Stomp had recently reported a similar case where the victim was told by fake ICA officer that she had a parcel containing illegal Covid-19 medicine detained at customs.

The police would like to highlight that 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 investigations without the approval of the Singapore Government.

If you have any information relating to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential. If you require urgent police assistance, please dial "999".

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688.