2 Taiwanese men arrested after allegedly impersonating police and cheating S'pore victims of over $145k

Two Taiwanese men aged 23 and 25 have been arrested for allegedly impersonating police officers to cheat their victims.

The police said in a statement that they received a report on Aug 4 from a 31-year-old woman who had received a call from someone claiming to be a police officer.

She was told that she was being investigated by the police for money laundering offences. 

She was then transferred to another unknown person who identified himself to be a police officer from another country.

She was instructed to key in her Internet banking credentials on a website link.

She later discovered that $45,100 had been transferred from her bank to an unknown bank account after it was accessed illegally without her knowledge.

Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) followed up on the victim's report and identified the two suspects who were arrested on Aug 8.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the two men are believed to be involved in at least six other similar cases in which victims lost $100,000 in total.

If convicted, they could be jailed up to five years and/or fined.

Police advised members of the public to take precautions when receiving unsolicited calls from unknown parties, such as refraining from giving out personal information.

They added that members of the public should be wary of befriending unknown persons online who may ask to use your bank account to either receive money or transfer money to someone else.

Those in doubt can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or dial 999 for urgent assistance.

For scam-related advice, the public can call the anti-scam hotline on 1800-722-6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg.