The number of people falling prey to lottery scam fraudsters remains a concern to Police. In the past month, on average, 1 Singaporean falls victim to it daily. So far this year, more than 210 victims have been cheated of over S$2 million.
The fraudsters, claiming to be staff of an overseas company, would typically call their victims on the pretext of conducting a survey or inviting the victims to attend an overseas event. The following days, their accomplice, also claiming to be staff of an overseas company, would call and inform the victims that they had won a cash prize in a lucky draw entered on the victims' behalf. To claim the prize, the victims would be requested to make a payment in advance to them through a remittance company or to a bank account in China. This being payment for administrative or processing fees. In some cases, local bank accounts were also used. To lend credence to their claims, the fraudsters would in some cases provide the victims with login Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) and website addresses, or phone numbers purportedly belonging to overseas audit or law firms.
Another tactic of the fraudsters is to send winning notifications to victims’ handphones via SMS. The messages tell the victims to call an overseas number to claim their prize. The victims are also asked to make payments in advance.
These lottery winnings do not exist. They bear the hallmark of requesting the victims to part with some money before being able to claim the lottey winnings. This is commonly known as ‘Lottery Scams'. After pocketing the money, the fraudsters either conjure up more tales to solicit further payments from their victims, or may abscond altogether. Legitimate lottery companies do not conduct themselves in this manner. If anything sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Police take a stern view of such cases and will not hesitate to prosecute anyone if there is evidence of fraud. The public can provide information on such scams to the Commercial Affairs Department at 1800-3250000 or 391 New Bridge Road, #06-701 Police Cantonment Complex Block D, Singapore 088762, or at any police station. Members of public are also advised to visit the Commercial Affairs Department's website, www.cad.gov.sg, for more information.
Public Affairs Department
Singapore Police Force
3 Nov 2007 @ 10am
