Police advisory: Scam phone calls from “ICA”

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) released a statement on Saturday on its Facebook page regarding the recent rise in scam phone calls where cons pose as Immigration & Checkpoint Authority (ICA) officers. Using a number similar to the ICA’s, these frauds ask for a funds transfer and have gotten away with their crime 22 out of 49 times since the start of this month.

People living in Singapore should take note that the ICA does not call up members of the public to request for funds transfers. The full statement by the SPF is published below.

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Singapore Police Force's statement

"Police have noted a recent spate of cases involving victims who received phone calls from scammers claiming to be officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore (ICA).

The scammers would call victims using a phone number similar to the ICA hotline (6391 6100). They would then inform the victims that they had not filled in their Disembarkation/Embarkation cards properly, and asked the victims to transfer funds to the scammers to legitimise their stay in Singapore. As of 2 May 2013, 49 cases have been reported, of which 22 foreign victims have fallen to the scam.

To raise public awareness to this new scam, Police have stepped up the community engagement efforts. At the foreign worker dormitories, crime prevention messages have been shared to highlight this new trend. At the inter-agency roadshows to reach out to the foreign workers, we would also include the sharing of this scam in the programme.

To increase the outreach, crime advisories have been disseminated to areas like Little India, and are also prominently displayed at the remittance centres to warn potential victims. Police also partnered the Singapore Bangladesh Society to highlight this scam at its Public Awareness Campaign held on 1 May 2013 in front of Serangoon Plaza.

The High Commission of India in Singapore has publicised our scam advisory by uploading it on their website. Police seek community assistance and awareness to prevent, deter and detect this new scam.

In addition, ICA had issued a public advisory to clarify that such calls are not authentic. ICA does not call up members of public for funds transfer pertaining to immigration facilities."

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Learn more about the ICA scam call case in the video below:

The ICA has also come up with guidelines for people in Singapore to be more cautious against such scams.

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"Members of public who received such phone scam calls should do the following:

• Call the Police immediately at the Police hotline at 1800-255 0000 or ‘999’ to report the case.
• Ignore such calls; and
• Do not transfer any money via remittance agencies, banks or any other means to the caller"

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