Law Ministry warns of scammers impersonating its officers
The Ministry of Law on July 28, 2020 warned about scammers impersonating its officers.
SINGAPORE — Scammers are impersonating law officials through phone calls and asking their victims to redeem documents or parcels, the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) warned in a statement on Tuesday (July 28).
Identifying themselves as ministry officers, the scammers sometimes provide a fake staff identification number and a non-toll free hotline to maintain their pretence, it said.
In some cases, victims will receive a call with an automated voice message that says “the Ministry of Law is unable to locate you” in English and Mandarin, then prompt victims to key in a number to speak to a customer service officer.
The ministry advised the recipients of such calls not to make any payments or provide any personal or financial details to callers.
“MinLaw will not ask you to make a payment through a telephone call, especially to a third party’s bank account,” the ministry said.
It added that the ministry’s officers do not have staff identification numbers and it currently does not send any automated messages to the public.
Those with ongoing cases with the ministry can verify the caller's identity by asking for case-related information such as their case reference number, MinLaw said.
Some officers may call from a private or non-official number as they are telecommuting during this period. The public can contact the MinLaw hotline at 1800 225 5529 from 8.30am to 5pm on weekdays to verify the officers’ identities.
The ministry added that it does not place calls from overseas and advised the public not to take any calls with numbers that begin with “+65”, as it is likely to be a spoof call since the “+” prefix means the call is coming from overseas.
Those seeking advice on scams may call the National Crime Prevention Council’s anti-scam helpline at 1800 722 6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg.
To provide any information on such scams, the public may dial the police hotline on 1800 255 0000 or visit www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.
