It all begins with a phone call. By pretentiously conducting a telephone survey, the scammers would eventually inform their victims of an invitation to attend an event. A few days later, the victims would be informed that they have won a prize as their names and mobile numbers were entered into a lucky draw on their behalf. In order to claim the prize, the victims would be told to pay administrative fees or other payments into a bank account or through a remittance house. After each payment has been paid, the victims would often be asked to make further payments, with the promise of large sums of money. The payments only end when the victims realize that they have been deceived or when they run out of money.
In other scenarios, the caller(s) may take on a hostile tone and fictitiously tell victims of them having pending cases with the Singapore Courts or with enforcement agencies. The caller(s) would eventually ask for payments in order to absolve them from their cases or to safe-keep their money. The caller(s) may even threaten to harm a family member if no payment was received.
If you receive such a call:
Another variation of such scams involves a 'kidnap' ruse. The caller(s) would claim that the victim’s loved one had been kidnapped and demand that a ransom be transferred to a specific bank account. During the call, background noises may sometimes be heard of someone struggling and yelling for the victim for help.
If you receive such a call:
Remain calm. Be wary and do not fall prey. Try to contact your loved-one immediately on his/her mobile phone, at the workplace/school, friends who could be with him/her, etc. Should repeated attempts at contacting your loved-one fail, seek assistance from the police.
Those who receive such calls should alert the Police at the nearest Neighbourhood Police Centre. More details of such scams can be found in the SPF website at www.spf.gov.sg or www.cad.gov.sg.
The above information has been reproduced with the permission of Singapore Police Force (SPF). Any feedback should be made directly to SPF at www.spf.gov.sg/feedback.htm. If you wish to report a crime, call “999” or go to any Neighbourhood Police Centre/Post or www.spf.gov.sg/epc. Nothing hereby signifies any endorsement of sgforums.com by SPF.
i think there was another thread on this somewhere
that was about a few months back...