The scam involves two or more culprits acting in unison. The victim would be told that a misfortune would befall his loved ones but this could be prevented with a ritual. He would then be asked to put cash or jewellery in a plastic bag for the ritual and would be told to open the plastic bag a few days later.

- 22 Jun 2007
- 13 Jun 2007
- 30 May 2007
- 17 Mar 2006

The culprit would propose to rent out vehicles to victims at low prices. Upon paying the rental fees, the victims realize that the vehicles do not belong to the culprit and are not available for rent at all.

The public should also note that it is an offence to rent out private vehicles without the requisite insurance and permission from the Land Transport Authority.

The scam involves a culprit from overseas seeking assistance from victims to help him donate his savings to a church or charity to help the needy via e-mail. The  culprit promised a small percentage of his wealth for the kind favour rendered by the victims. Victims however are later deceived into parting with monies as administrative fees.

The culprit would call the victim (who is usually the owner of a trading firm) from overseas and offer him the exclusive rights to sell a particular product in Singapore. Shortly after, ‘customers’ who are collaborating with the culprit would call the victim to place huge orders, inducing the victim to ask for goods from the culprit. The victim would be told to deliver monies to the culprit in order to obtain the goods which do not exist at all in the first place.  Firms are strongly advised to check the credibility of such ‘cold call’ suppliers and customers before making any financial commitment.

The victim would be given counterfeit credit cards for purchases of goods and services.     

The victim would be given counterfeit currency notes for purchases of goods and services.

The victim would receive threatening calls from unknown subjects purporting that they may harm his loved ones or cause damage to his property should he refuse to send a sum of money to them.

The culprit would send notifications by email to unsuspecting victims claiming that their transactions were rejected by financial institutions and ask them to resend monies to another account. The public should always confirm with the financial institutions on their transactions before making any transfers.

The elderly victim would be told that the culprit is a friend of the victim's family member or relative who could exchange his jewellery for more expensive ones.

The victim would receive calls alleging that he is involved in a police or Court case. The caller (or a subsequent caller) would claim to be a police officer or Court staff and ask him to make a transfer of money to exonerate his involvement in the police or Court case.

There are other variants of the scam such as the impersonation of a government / bank officer to seek bank account information.

In the most common variant of such scams, the culprit who is usually a foreigner would befriend the victim through online dating or social networking sites.  After some correspondences, the culprit would inform the victim that he would be coming to Singapore to visit her.  On the supposed day of the culprit’s arrival to Singapore, the culprit would again call the victim and inform her that he was detained for carrying excessive cash. The victim would then be asked to transfer a sum of money to a foreign bank account in order to secure his release. After the victim has transferred the money, the culprit would be uncontactable.

The victim would be offered jobs in return for a processing fee. In most cases, the victim would be asked to furnish upfront deposit.

The victim would receive calls that his loved ones had been kidnapped. He would be asked to make a transfer of money via a remittance agency to avoid his loved ones being harmed.  Alternatively, he may be asked to place the ransom at specific location(s) for collection by kidnapper(s).

Victims would respond to a website offering loans and be asked to pay an administrative fee.  After the victims remitted the fees to foreign accounts, they did not receive the loans or were asked to pay further fees to get the loans.  The victims would also be unable to contact the parties involved.

The victim would receive winning notifications in a lottery /  lucky draw via phone calls or SMS. He would be asked to make up-front payments in order to claim his winnings.

There is a variant of the scam in which the victim is led to believe that he has been chosen to participate in a lucky draw conducted by the Hong Kong Tourism Board. He would be sent a 'Scratch and Win' card by mail. The card would indicate that the victim is a winner and he would be asked to make up-front payments in order to claim his winnings.

In another variant of the scam, the victim would receive wining notifications in a lucky draw held by a well-known company via SMS.  He would be asked to buy several phone top-up cards to facilitate the claiming of his winnings.  Thereafter, the culprit would asked the victim to disclose the top-up card number and PIN to him so that he could use up all the call credits in the top-up cards.  In some cases, the victims were asked to transfer cash into foreign bank accounts as fees to convert their winnings into Singapore dollars.

- 30 Aug 2010
- 23 Mar 2010
- 2 Dec 2009
- 22 Apr 2008
- 14 Jan 2008
- 3 Nov 2007
- 21 Sep 2007
- 2 Aug 2007

The victim would receive winning notifications in a Petronas lucky draw. He would be asked to provide banking information including internet banking password(s).  He may be asked to make up-front payments in order to claim his winnings.

The victim would be told that the culprit is a renovation contractor. He would be asked for money for renovation purchases.

The scam involves a culprit renting a housing unit (or part of the unit) out to a number of victims concurrently and collecting deposits or advance rental payments from the victims.  In some cases, the culprit does not have the authority to rent out the unit.

Click here to view how prospective tenants can protect themselves from rental scams.

The victim would be told that he can procure the latest electronic products, such as iPhones from the culprit at very low prices. However, the victim would not be able to receive the promised products after handing monies over to the culprit.

The victim would transfer monies to the culprit for purchase of air tickets and/or travel packages.  After receiving the monies, the culprit would send a confirmation reservation email to the victim or remain uncontactable.  However, no reservation of air tickets and/or travel packages were made for the victim.

The victim would be told that the culprit is a government officer who could help to secure welfare benefits that are  expiring soon. He would be asked to make a transfer of money.

As above