Received an SMS from 'CID of Singapore'? It's a scam

The Singapore Police Force has warned the public of a new variant of the police impersonation scam.

In a statement on Thursday (Jan 30), the police said people would receive text messages purportedly from "CID of Singapore", informing them that their ATM card had been suspended for security reasons and that further transactions would be disabled.

They would then be directed to contact "CID of Singapore" via a specified number and asked to provide their Internet banking details and One-Time Password (OTP) in order to reactivate their ATM card.

The police said no monetary loss from this new variant of the scam has been reported.

The police emphasised that the SMS messages were not sent by the police.

Members of the public are advised to take the following crime prevention methods:                   

1. Don’t panic – Remain calm and do not reply to the SMS message. Block and report the number as spam;

2. Don’t believe – Ignore the instructions and do not call the number shown in the SMS message;

3. Don’t give – Do not provide your personal details, bank account information, Internet banking credentials and One-Time Password (OTP). Such information are useful to the scammers.

If you wish to provide any information relating to such cases, you may call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.

If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.

You may also call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg to seek scam-related advice.

Join the ‘let’s fight scams’ campaign at www.scamalert.sg/fight by signing up as an advocate to receive up-to-date messages and share them with your family and friends.