The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has warned the public to be careful over phone calls impersonating police officers.
The police said on Facebook that some people have received phone calls from the number "+65 999" on their mobile phones as police officers. But SPF clarified that those calls were not made by police officers.
The police said typically in a phone scam, recipients hear an automated voice message instructing them in Mandarin to enter a number. Then a Mandarin-speaking operator, who claims to be from SPF, would ask for the recipient's personal information.
"Otherwise, they were told to proceed to the police station with their identification card or police officers would be dispatched to their residence," the police said in the Facebook advisory.
When individuals, who receive missed calls from '+65 999, make return calls, they would get automatically connected to the Police emergency hotline at '999'.
These are the common tactics used by scammers. They use caller ID spoofing technology to mask the actual phone number and display a different number.
The police urged the public to ignore such calls and not reveal their personal information such as name, contact details, bank account or credit card details.
The authorities have asked the public to call the police hotline at 1800 255 0000 if they have any information regarding these scams. The public may even submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.
The police clarified that the "999" hotline should be used only if urgent police assistance is required.
