SINGAPORE – Mr Christopher Ong received a call in late 2020 from a Mandarin-speaking fraudster who claimed he was from delivery firm DHL’s “Chinese department” and asked for his banking details to redeem a high-value parcel.
Little did the scammer know that he was speaking to DHL Express Singapore’s managing director.
Mr Ong, 48, immediately realised he was speaking to a swindler as his company does not have such a department.
He noted details about the caller’s requests and mode of operation, before he told the scammer: “We don’t have a Chinese department at DHL. I am the managing director.”
He told The Straits Times: “I wanted to understand their mode of operation so I can educate our people on how scammers worked.
“I thought, surely there can be more we can do to tackle scams.”
Mr Ong recalled this incident as he spoke about DHL’s campaign to distribute anti-scam notices to some 600,000 delivery customers from October to December last year to educate the public about scams.
The logistics company was one of 45 organisations that received a Community Partnership Award at the police headquarters in New Phoenix Park on Thursday (April 7).
In DHL’s first collaboration with the police, the firm stuck the notices on parcels urging customers to be wary of suspicious online deals and sellers who insist on payment outside the sales platform.
The campaign first targeted about 20,000 residents in the Hougang area, but in December, it was expanded islandwide to reach out to…
