Recently, there have been reported cases of a new variation of the "Lucky Draw Phone Scam" where scammers have been sending SMS notifications to members of the public via an overseas phone line, claiming that the recipients have won cash of £925,000 in a worldwide “Phone Top-Up Win Promotion” and that the money is ready to be sent to them. The recipients are then advised to liaise with the organiser's representative at email address: phpty@aol.com.

The scam is designed to dupe the victims into parting with their money. After deceiving the victims into believing that they have won prize money, the scammers convince the victims to pay a tax or an administration fee to secure the release of their winnings. Such prize money do not exist. The scammers usually abscond after receiving the money or they may conjure up more excuses to induce further payments from their victims.

Crime Prevention Measures

Members of the public are advised to be vigilant against these bogus lottery and lucky draw scams and adopt the following measures:

1. Ignore notifications of a win in a lottery or lucky draw especially when you have not purchased any lottery ticket or participated in any lucky draw;
   
2. Do not make any payment to claim prize money. Winning a lucky draw or lottery does not require you to make any advance payment;
   
3. Do not respond to a SMS or phone call informing that you have won prize money.
   
4. Be wary of get-rich-quick offers. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it is probably a scam.

Members of public can report such suspicious offers to the Police at a Neighbourhood Police Centre. They may also call the Police hotline at 1800 – 255 0000.

More details of other scam tactics and the relevant crime prevention advisories can be found at the Singapore Police Force website at www.spf.gov.sg or the Commercial Affairs Department website at www.cad.gov.sg.