Police have received several reports of phone scams in the first quarter of this year. A notable new trick employed by these fraudsters is that the telephone number of a Police department or Courts would appear in the caller ID of the victim's phones, when in reality no calls were made from those agencies. These numbers include: 63381034 (Sub Court Enquiry Hotline), 64350000 (CID Hotline) and 999 (Police).

Police investigations of these cases are ongoing. Some scams use the "kidnap scam" while others involve the impersonation of Supreme Court staff or Police officers, in which these swindlers trick victims into transferring money into bank accounts. In August and October last year, Police had issued advisories warning the public of such phone scams.

In the "kidnap scam”, the swindlers trick their victims into transferring money into a bank account by alleging that their next-of-kin was kidnapped and would be harmed if money was not transferred to the caller's bank account. The allegations were untrue and no one was kidnapped.

Another ruse used by the swindlers is to impersonate as Police officers or staff from the Supreme Court. The impersonators would claim that the victims were involved in criminal cases or court hearings and were directed to transfer money into a bank account to exonerate themselves from these cases. In reality, the victims were not involved in any such criminal or court proceedings.

Police would like to reiterate that while it is normal during the course of Police work for investigators to inform members of the public over the phone on Court dates and appointments at the Police station for Police statements, Police will never ask for money to be deposited into a bank account.

The public is advised to be wary when receiving such phone calls. Cheating scams may take different forms but these scams are all designed to cheat victims into parting with their money. When in doubt, the public is advised to verify the caller's identity with the agency or organisation the caller claims to be from, even if the caller ID appears to belong to the agency or organisation. Members of the public are advised to remain calm and call the Police immediately if they are approached in a similar manner.