SINGAPORE: The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Tuesday (Aug 6) warned the public of phone scammers claiming to be its officers.
Such calls were made from different numbers, including 1800 391 6150, which is ICA’s hotline number for people to provide information on immigration offenders.
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The caller, claiming to be an ICA officer, would ask for the recipient’s personal particulars or for money transfers, said ICA in a media release.
If the recipient fails to comply, they were told that they would be deported to their country of origin.
“This is a scam. ICA would like to clarify that these calls were not made by our officers,” said the agency, adding that it does not call members of the public to request for money in any form.
Scammers may have used caller ID spoofing technology to mask the actual phone number.
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“Calls that appear to be from a local number may not actually be made from Singapore,” said ICA.
It advised members of the public to ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions.
“If you receive a suspicious call from a local number, hang up, wait a while, then call the number back to check the validity of the request,” it added.
“For foreign residents receiving calls from persons claiming to be police officers or government officials from your home country, hang up the call and dial the number of your Embassy/High Commission to verify the claims of the caller.”
Anyone with related information on such scam calls can call the police hotline at 1800 255 0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.
