According to a media statement yesterday, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) has busted a new scam of identity theft and fake kidnapping and arrested two people in this connection. Two victims of these scams lost approximately S$445,000.
During the SPF investigation into these highly elaborate scams, two suspects, aged 21 and 25, were arrested. Police described these as “Chinese official impersonation scams.” Scam victims were led by scammers to believe they were talking to Chinese officials.
The arrests were made very quickly, within hours of police receiving two separate reports of kidnappings. Both reports were filed last Wednesday. One report was for her 19-year-old female and her other report was for her 21-year-old male.
According to details released by police, the parents of the two young men, who live in China, had received a video of a young woman and man being taken hostage. The video showed the hostages being demanded a ransom by unidentified people speaking in Mandarin.
Alarmed after seeing the video, the Chinese parents contacted an acquaintance in Singapore, who immediately notified the Singapore Police.
SPF immediately launched an investigation and tracked down the two suspected hostages, only to discover that they had not been kidnapped.
Police determined that the “hostages” in the video were tricked by scammers and forced to participate in a fake kidnapping video.
A sophisticated web of fraud and extortion
The Chinese official impersonation scam began with a fraudulent phone call to the first victim, a 19-year-old woman. On October 31, 2023, she received a phone call purporting to be from an official from Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).
The (fake) ICA official then transferred the call to someone claiming to be a Chinese police officer. A (fake) Chinese official told the victim that her identity card details were used to issue a bank card, which was then used for money laundering in China.
The terrified victims were then told they had to pay “bail” to avoid arrest and deportation. She did as she was told and she transferred more than S$230,000 to the bank account of the “Chinese police”, the SPF revealed.
The Singaporean victim was also led to believe that she was a suspect in the ongoing investigation. To maintain her facade, her scammers had her “report” to “Chinese police” several times a day.
Next came the part about the fake kidnapping video. In early January 2024, the victim was told by “Chinese police” officials to make such a video to assist in the ongoing investigation. The young woman did not dare to refuse the request of the “officials”, but she was told to make the following video: She was tied up and confined.
She was informed that the video would be used in an anti-fraud awareness campaign. “Chinese police officials” arranged for the video to be set up, and the victims were told to play their part.
In the staged video, one of the two men currently arrested by the SPF played the role of the kidnapper. The suspect, 25 years old, played the role of villain by pointing a deadly weapon (kukri dagger) at the victim who was being held as a “hostage”.
About a week after the staged kidnapping video was recorded, “Chinese law enforcement officials” told the victim that she must remain alone in a “safe house.” The “safe house” will be arranged by the 25-year-old man who played the kidnapper in the video.
He was not allowed to contact anyone, including the victim’s family in China. A “Chinese police official” said this was also part of an investigation.
With the victim isolated in a “safe house” and cut off from everyone she knows, scammers convince the Chinese family that the young woman has been kidnapped and must pay a ransom to be released. has become easier. A so-called “awareness video” of the staged kidnapping was sent to her next of kin in China as the real kidnapping video.
Fortunately for the victim, her family in China managed to contact Singapore police. SPF soon discovered her and rescued her from the clutches of her impostor.
Similar tactics exploit fear and isolation
Another victim in Singapore, a 21-year-old man, experienced the exact same ordeal. He too had to wire about S$215,000 to the “Chinese police” as “bail money”, was forced to play the “hostage” in a fake kidnapping video, and was later sent to a “safe house”. was told to isolate.
However, in his case, the first phone call, which came in early November 2023, made a different allegation. The victim also received a call from a (fake) ICA official who had a Chinese mobile number registered in his name, which was being used to spread rumors about the coronavirus in China. It is said that he was told that
The order of events from there matched the order of other incidents. When the young man is again forced into hiding “to assist in the ongoing investigation,” his family in China obtains a video of his kidnapping that is staged as a genuine kidnapping and a ransom demand. It was done. In the video, a 21-year-old young suspect plays the prisoner, also brandishing a weapon at the victim.
SPF investigation revealed that the two arrested suspects were acting on behalf of fraudsters. They rented a place in Singapore that served as a so-called “safe house.”
The two suspects also took the victim’s cell phone and gave her a new and different number. This gave the scammer complete control over the victim and prevented any outside contact. The victims were too scared to call the police.
During the investigation, Singapore police seized weapons and other items used in making the fake kidnapping video.
In a media statement, the SPF reminded the public that no one in Singapore can be arrested by law enforcement agencies of other countries. This was a reference to the impersonation of “Chinese police officials.”
“Police take a strong view of anyone who may be involved in fraud, whether knowingly or unintentionally, and will deal firmly with them in accordance with the law,” the SPF said.