2 Taiwanese men arrested for involvement in scam that cheated woman out of $70,000

Two Taiwanese men have been arrested for their suspected involvement in a series of scams, including cheating a woman out of $70,000.

The police said in a statement that a 58-year-old woman lodged a police report on Monday (Mar 26) saying that she had been cheated of the mentioned sum of money.

She said that she received a call on Mar 25 from a man who claimed to be from the Chinese Police.

He told the victim that she had been identified as a suspect in a cross-border fraud and had to surrender all her monies in her bank account for investigations.

The victim was flustered and withdrew $70,000 from her bank account on the same day.

She then met and handed the cash to another man as directed by the man on the phone.

After conducting extensive follow-up investigations, the police arrested the two Taiwanese men, aged 26 and 35, on Mar 28.

Preliminary investigations revealed that they had received criminal proceeds that were linked to a China Official Impersonation Scam.

They are also believed to be involved in several other similar cases.

The two men will be charged in court with dishonestly receiving stolen property. If found guilty, they can be jailed for up to five years and/or fined.

The police advised the public to take the following precautions when receiving unsolicited calls asking them to surrender money:

  • Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions. No government agency will demand payment through an undocumented medium like a telephone call or other social messaging platforms (WeChat or Facebook); or ask you for personal banking information such as your Internet banking passwords.
  • For foreign residents receiving calls from persons claiming to be police officers or government officials from your home country, please call your Embassy/High Commission to verify the claims of the caller.
  • Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on a website or to callers over the phone. Personal information and bank details such as Internet bank account usernames and passwords, OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals. Do not make any funds transfer at the behest of such callers.
  • Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. Do not be pressured by the caller to act impulsively.
  • To seek scam-related advice, you may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg.