A 60-year-old woman lost $80,000 after being scammed into providing her bank account details and passwords on a fake Singapore Police Force (SPF) website.

The woman alerted the police when she discovered the money had been transferred from her bank accounts without her knowledge, said an advisory by the police.

A person claiming to be a police officer called the woman and said that she was being investigated because her bank accounts had been used for money laundering.

The woman was told to provide her personal information and was warned not to tell anyone about the “investigations”. She was then called by another person who directed her to a webpage resembling the SPF’s website, where she was instructed to provide her bank account details and passwords on the site.

Later, she discovered that a large sum of money had been transferred out of her accounts.

Investigations are ongoing.

Police stress that the official SPF website is www.police.gov.sg. Members of the public are advised to take precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties.

For example, ignore the calls. Scammers may use Caller ID spoofing technology to mask the actual phone number and display a different number. Calls that appear to be from a local number may not actually be made from Singapore.

They should also ignore instructions to remit or transfer money. “No government agency will inform you to make a payment through a telephone call, especially to a third party’s bank account,” said a police spokesperson.

Members of the public who have information related to such crimes or are in doubt can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit the information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. For scam-related advice, they may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688.

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