Chinese Official Impersonation Scam

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Chinese Official Impersonation Scam
Photo Source: The New Paper

Description of scam:

Victims will receive a call from employees of a courier company informing them that their identity has been compromised. Victims were told that their identities were used to send parcels containing fake passports, weapons, and various illegal items. Victims are then referred to another caller claiming to be a police officer, customs officers or government official and will be asked to provide their personal particulars such as name, identification number, address, passport number and bank account details. They will be subsequently threatened and instructed to remit money to China so that the authorities will not pursue the matter. To avoid being a victim of such scams, we urge our customers to take note of the following:

  • Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions.
  • Please do not provide name, identification number, passport details, contact details, bank account or credit card details to the callers. Such information is useful to criminals.
  • Please, not make any fund transfers.
  • No government agency will instruct payment through a telephone call and direct you to pay to a third party’s bank account.
  • Please do not remit to anyone you don’t know.
  • Members of the public who have information related to such crimes can call the police hotline at 1800-255 0000, or dial 999 for urgent police assistance.