|
Source:
www.spf.gov.sg |
One Singaporean Falls Prey to
Lottery Scam Every Day |
|
The number of people falling prey to lottery
scam fraudsters remains a concern to Police. In the past month, on
average, 1 Singaporean falls victim to it daily. So far this year, more
than 210 victims have been cheated of over S$2 million. |
The fraudsters, claiming to be staff of an
overseas company, would typically call their victims on the pretext of
conducting a survey or inviting the victims to attend an overseas event. |
The following days, their accomplice, also
claiming to be staff of an overseas company, would call and inform the
victims that they had won a cash prize in a lucky draw entered on the
victims' behalf. |
To claim the prize, the victims would be
requested to make a payment in advance to them through a remittance
company or to a bank account in China . This being payment for
administrative or processing fees. |
In some cases, local bank accounts were also
used. To lend credence to their claims, the fraudsters would in some
cases provide the victims with login Personal Identification Numbers
(PIN) and website addresses, or phone numbers purportedly belonging to
overseas audit or law firms. |
Another tactic of the fraudsters is to send
winning notifications to victims' handphones via SMS. The messages tell
the victims to call an overseas number to claim their prize. The victims
are also asked to make payments in advance. |
These lottery winnings do not exist. They
bear the hallmark of requesting the victims to part with some money
before being able to claim the lottey winnings. This is commonly known
as 'Lottery Scams'. |
After pocketing the money, the fraudsters
either conjure up more tales to solicit further payments from their
victims, or may abscond altogether. Legitimate lottery companies do not
conduct themselves in this manner. If anything sounds too good to be
true, it probably is. |
Police take a stern view of such cases and
will not hesitate to prosecute anyone if there is evidence of fraud. |
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. |
Members of public are also advised to visit
the Commercial Affairs Department's website,
www.cad.gov.sg, for more
information. |
PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
03 November 2007 at 10.00am |
Source:
www.spf.gov.sg Media Release 3 Nov
2007 |
|
Important
Notice |
Our FrontPage
Editions are a historical record of our Web site and reflect
the changing of the times, and also of our Web site through
time. We do not and will not update the links and stories on
these FrontPages even if they have become obsolete. |
|