SINGAPORE — A 59-year-old woman nearly lost S$500,000 after she was tricked into providing her personal particulars and internet banking credentials by a scammer who claimed to be from the High Court.
The scam was foiled six days later on Oct 28, when the police and digital asset trading company QCP Capital intervened in time to convince the victim that she had fallen prey to a government official impersonation scam.
In a news release on Friday (Dec 17), the police said that between January and September this year, there were at least 50 victims who were deceived by scammers impersonating High Court officials, with at least S$6.8 million lost.
In the case of the 59-year-old victim, investigations revealed that she received a call on Oct 22 from a man who claimed to be from the High Court purportedly informing her that she had been implicated in a money laundering case by an accused person.
When she denied knowing the person, the man advised her to lodge a report. The call was then allegedly transferred to someone claiming to be an Inspector Lim from the Singapore Police Force.
She was then instructed to provide her personal particulars and banking credentials for police investigations. She was also told to download a messaging application to report her daily movement.
The ruse was discovered when QCP Capital’s staff found discrepancies after a new customer using the identity of the victim tried to register an account online with the company.
After due…
