2 elderly victims lose about $6m to fake 'overseas police officer'
Two elderly victims lost $1 million and $4.9 million respectively in December 2024, after they were deceived by scammers posing as overseas law enforcement officers.
In both cases, the victims received unsolicited phone calls from fraudsters posing as officials from a company such as Singtel and Starhub, said the police in a statement on Wednesday (Jan 22).
The scammer told the victims that their mobile number had been used for criminal activities overseas, and transferred the call to another scammer purporting to be from overseas law enforcement agencies.
Both victims were instructed to withdraw money from their bank accounts and hand it over to an unknown person, likely a cash mule, for «safe keeping».
When the victim was unable to withdraw the money, another person would be sent down to meet the victim to assist them.
In one of the cases, the scammer sent the victim a fake police identification card through a WhatsApp disappearing message function and even delivered fake documentation to the victim's home to reinforce the deceit, said the police.