Officials warn of scam phone calls

IMPACT – MEDIUM

Singapore’s Immigration & Checkpoints Authority has warned of a new phone scam where callers pose as ICA officers to obtain personal information. Recipients of the calls have been asked to collect documents from ICA, provide documents to ICA or to turn over other personal information. In some cases, the phone calls have been made through an automated system.

Authorities stressed that ICA officers are not placing these calls. ICA has filed a police report and asked those who receive such calls to ignore the caller’s instructions and refuse to provide any personal information, such as their name, ID number, passport details, contact information or banking and credit card information.

BAL Analysis: Immigration-related email, phone and web scams are common globally, and in Singapore the Ministry of Manpower has reported similar scams in the past. Authorities have encourage members of the public to seek information about scams by visiting www.scamalert.sg or by calling the anti-scam helpline at 1-800-722-6688.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group in Singapore. For additional information, please contact singapore@bal.com.

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