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Source:
www.spf.gov.sg |
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Lottery Scam Alert - A Crime Prevention
Advisory |
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Police would like to advise the public to be
wary of "Lottery Scams". The scams involve a variety of schemes, all
designed to dupe victims into parting with their money. |
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Recently, Police have received a number of
reports by victims who were duped into parting with their money after
they received overseas calls or Short Message Service (SMSes) to their
handphones informing them of their winning cash prizes in lucky draws
conducted by overseas companies. |
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From January to July 2007, Police have
received 23 such reports, of which 31 victims have parted with amounts
ranging from $32 to $52,800. |
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The fraudsters would typically call the
victims on the pretext of conducting surveys or inviting the victims to
attend overseas events, by claiming to be staff of overseas companies. |
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A few days later, another purported staff
would call the victims informing them that they had won cash prizes in
lucky draws entered on their behalf. |
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To claim their prizes, the victims were
requested to make up-front payments as administrative or processing fees
via remittance companies to China. In some instances, local accounts
were also used. |
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To lend credence to their claims, the
fraudsters may provide the victims with login PINs and website
addresses, or phone numbers purportedly belonging to overseas
audit or law firms. |
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Another tactic used by the fraudsters
is to send winning notifications to victims¨ handphones via SMS.
In the messages, the victims are told to call an overseas number
to claim their prize. Similarly, the victims would also be
requested to make up-front payments. |
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These lottery winnings do not exist.
They bear the hallmarks of what are commonly known as ' Lottery
Scams' that are designed to dupe victims into parting with their
money. |
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Having deceived the victims into
believing that they had won the lottery, the fraudsters often
convinced the victims into making up-front payments, purportedly
as tax or other forms of payments to administer the release of the
'prize money'. |
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After pocketing their money, the
fraudsters would either conjure up more tales to solicit further
payments from their victims, or may abscond altogether. |
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The public is advised to be wary as
such scams often take different forms and the fraudsters change
tactics regularly. Remember, legitimate lottery companies do not
ask for up-front payments before the release of the winnings. If
anything sounds too good to be true, it probably is. |
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Police take a stern view of such cases
and will not hesitate to prosecute anyone if there is evidence of
fraud. Police have been working with overseas agencies to pursue
the culprits. |
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Since 2005, we have successfully
arrested and prosecuted at least 6 persons for their involvement
in a variety of such get-rich-quick scams. Those charged have been
given jail terms ranging between 14 months to 36 months. |
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The public can provide information on
such scams to the Commercial Affairs Department at 1800-3250000 or
391 New Bridge Road, #06-701 Police Cantonment Complex Block D,
Singapore 088762 or at any police station. |
PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
02 AUGUST 2007 @ 5.15PM |
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Source:
www.spf.gov.sg Media Release 2
Aug 2007 |
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FrontPage Edition: Sat 4 August 2007
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