While the overall crime situation for 2008 remains well under control, Police would nonetheless like to highlight three key crime concerns, namely:

a. Phone scammers continue to prey on the unsuspecting public;

b. Rise in crimes against the elderly; and

c. More female minors involved in statutory rape and carnal connection cases

Police Remind Public to Guard against Phone Scams

Despite a fall in the total number of cheating and related crimes for 2008, the Police would like to urge all members of public to remain vigilant against cheating phone scams targeting the unsuspecting public. Phone scams are expected to continue in these tough economic times and culprits may come up with new methods of scams designed to 'scare'/’entice’ victims into parting with their money. In 2008, phone scam callers have varied their modus operandi by adopting several new tactics, identified as follows:

a. Lucky draw/Lottery scam involves victims who are persuaded to make advance payments to claim a prize. A new variation in 2008 saw culprits using SMS to inform victims that they have won in lucky draws. There were also cases where culprits claimed that the victims have won luxury cars in lucky draws and asked them to transfer money for administrative fees. In 2008, 305 cases of lucky draw/lottery scam cheated victims of about S$5.2 million in cash when they transferred money mainly via remittance houses to various overseas recipients.

b. The “Kidnap Hoax” first surfaced in Aug 2007. Generally, the conmen would call the victim and claim that one of their family members had been kidnapped. The conmen would then demand that the victim transfer a sum of ransom money to them, failing which the “kidnapped” family member would be harmed. However, with Police actively engaging the remittance houses and banks to put a lid on such practices, a recent trend have been observed where the culprits ask the victim to personally handover or leave the “ransom” at a pre-arranged location locally, usually near an MRT station or park. Also in some instances, conmen were known to claim that the alleged kidnapped family member failed to service illegal loan repayments or acted as a guarantor for these loans. In total, conmen were successful in 76 cases, cheating victims of about S$0.8 million in 2008 using the ‘Kidnap Hoax’.

c. Phone scams involving impersonation of Supreme Court Officials were first noted in Sep 2007 and remained a concern in 2008. Generally, the conmen would falsely claim to be a Supreme Court or Police representative and accuse victims of being involved in criminal offences when in reality, the victims were innocent. The conmen would then ask the victims to make money transfers via remittance houses to close the investigations into their offences. In recent cases, culprits were known to leverage on technology to replicate numbers of local authorities on victims’ caller IDs. In 2008, the culprits were successful in 53 cases and victims were cheated of about S$1.6 million in total.

Police have actively engaged stakeholders such as remittance and financial institutions, through roadshows and training sessions, to alert them to potential victims so as to foil these scams. Crime advisories about phone scams are also posted on popular online forums such as Hardwarezone Forums and Sg Forums [see Annex B]. Public education through the media and grassroots engagement remains as key approaches in disseminating warnings against such scams to the public.

Notwithstanding our educational approach, 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 also advised to remain calm and call the Police immediately if they are approached in a similar manner. In addition, the public should pose questions to the conmen claiming to be kidnappers to verify the identity of the purported kidnapped victim, for instance, the number of family members staying together or whether there are pets in the house. This will help establish if the call is indeed genuine [see Annex C].

Rise in Crimes against the Elderly

Criminals continue to target elderly² persons as crimes against the elderly increased in 2008.

Specifically, robbery and snatch theft targeting elderly victims increased 3% in 2008 compared to 2007. The numbers of elderly victims falling prey to robberies and snatch theft increased from 242 to 249 persons in 2008. Generally, elderly victims were robbed at common areas of HDB estates in the day when victims were alone going about their daily routine.

Apart from robbery and snatch theft, there were also more elderly victims of cheating incidents in 2008. Elderly victims of cheating and related offences rose from 114 to 134 persons in 2008. Elderly victims were cheated of their valuables like handphones and jewellery in various scams.

In addressing the concern of crime against the elderly, Police and the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) conducted 138 Senior Citizens’ chit-chat sessions in 2008 reaching out to over 79,700 senior citizens on crime prevention, with an emphasis on cheating/phone scams, robbery, theft (includes snatch theft), pickpocketing, and illegal betting. These outreach programmes mobilised over 150 Crime Prevention Ambassadors (CPAs) who speak the four main languages and common Chinese dialects. This facilitated the CPAs in sharing crime prevention concerns with the participants who were more receptive to their native language.

Police also embarked on a project, “Eldercare”, with the objective of improving the safety and security of the elderly residents in Marine Parade. Besides sharing crime prevention messages with the elderly, the officers also set up contact alarms, especially in homes where the elderly are staying alone. These dual-function alarms act either as a panic alarm or a burglar alarm. The burglar-function alarms are installed at entry points such as doors and windows while the panic-function alarms are installed at locations in the house where the elderly may require assistance, such as in the bedroom, toilet and kitchen.

More Female Minors involved in Statutory Rape and Carnal Connection

Statutory rape³ and carnal connection⁴ cases involving female minors below 16 years of age who had consensual sex, rose from 216 to 310 cases in 2008. Similar to previous years, known persons such as boyfriends and friends form the bulk of the culprits in these cases.

To address this growing trend, Police have embarked on several intervention initiatives by working closely with MOE, MCYS and NCPC on training sessions, workshops, programmes and crime awareness talks. The talks were intended to create greater awareness on the legal and social consequences of teenage sex so that teenagers could be dissuaded from such acts. For example in 2008, Police delivered two talks in collaboration with the Ministry of Education's Guidance Branch, namely: 'Teenage Sex and the Law' and ‘Legal Perspectives’ (Sex and the Law). Recognising that the increase in such sex-related offences involving young people may be linked to the increasing social trend of young people engaging in sex at an early age, SPF will continue to work with the relevant agencies to focus on intervention and educational programmes.

All stakeholders, including the community, schools, and parents have a role to play as well. Care should be taken by families to pay attention to the activities of their younger members, as most of the perpetuators in such cases are known to the victims (e.g. boyfriends and friends).

2. Refers to victims who were aged 60 years and above.

3. Statutory rape cases involve female victims aged 12 years and above, but below 14 years of age, and the coitus between the victim and the accused is consensual and the victim and the accused are not married to each other at the time of offence.

4. Carnal connection cases involve female victims aged 14 years old and above but below 16 years of age, the coitus between the victim and the accused is consensual and the victim and the accused are not married to each other at the time of offence.

Last updated: 30 Jan 2009