Fake ICA officer tells woman her parcel of illegal Covid-19 medicine is detained at customs

A woman received a phone call from a fake Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer, which resulted in her faking her own kidnapping video.

The police first received a report of the alleged kidnapping on April 12.

Officers from Jurong Police Division, Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Commercial Affairs Department conducted extensive follow-up investigations and tracked the 23-year-old woman on the same day in a hotel.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the victim had received an unsolicited call purportedly from an ICA officer, who alleged that the victim had a parcel containing illegal Covid-19 medicine detained at customs.

She was then routed to another scammer who masqueraded as “China Police”. As part of the purported ongoing investigations, the victim was made to report to the “China Police” six times a day over a social media communication platform.

The scammer further told the victim that she might be deported back to her home country if she was not able to furnish the bail amount. She was deceived into transferring 150,000 yuan (S$29,000) as “bail” to a bank account controlled by the scammer.

On April 10, the "China police" 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 and legs tied up to pretend that she had been captured. She was also told that the video would be used for their investigations to lure and arrest the syndicate members.

Unbeknownst to the victim, the scammers sent threats using the victim’s self-recorded video to her parents, who made a police report, which led to the police tracking down the victim.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Another two men and a woman were traced by the police between April 12 and 13 for their suspected involvement in the case. They were found to have fallen for similar ruses used by the scammer and were also alleged to have committed money-laundering offences. One of them was deceived to transfer up to 891,000 yuan for the purported purpose of “bail” and investigation.

This year, at least 62 victims have fallen prey to such scams with reported losses amounting to at least $6.9 million.

The scam occurs in the following way:

1. Members of the public would receive unsolicited calls from the first scammer who would pretend to be a government officer. In some cases, the victims would be notified that the authorities have seized their parcels containing prohibited goods or that they were involved in spreading false rumours. The scammer could also allege that the victims had misused their identities to sign up for bank accounts, credit cards and/or mobile numbers that were eventually involved in money laundering or crime.
2. The first scammer would then transfer the victim’s call to a second scammer purporting to be a China official. The second scammer would inform the victims that they were under investigation for criminal or money laundering activities. The communication between the second scammer and the victim may subsequently move to messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram. The second scammer would then instruct the victims to do any of the following:
   • relinquish bank account details;
   • transfer money to a third-party bank account purportedly to assist in investigations;
   • open new bank accounts;
   • meet unknown subjects to handover, collect and/or sign fake documents;
   • report their whereabouts and told not to divulge details about the investigation.
3. In some instances, the scammers would trick the victims to isolate themselves in “safe houses” arranged by the scammers so that their family members could not reach them. Victims would be asked to take a video of themselves kidnapped, with their hands tied purportedly to assist with investigations. Unbeknownst to the victims the scammers would then send the video to their family or legal guardians and demand a ransom.
4. Victims would realise that they had been scammed when they contact the police or official channels to check on their cases or when their families contact the police to report that their child had been kidnapped.

A Singapore government official will not contact you over the phone and accuse you of committing a criminal offence overseas, or connect you with an overseas law enforcement officer as part of the call. The public is advised to ignore such calls.

Overseas law enforcement agencies have no legal powers to require you in Singapore to assist in their investigations without the approval of the Singapore Government.

Demands by overseas officials to disclose your banking details, deliver or receive documents, report your whereabouts or go into hiding and take videos to assist in their investigations should be ignored.

No government agencies will ask for the control of your bank accounts, ask you for your bank account passwords or require you to transfer your money to another bank account.