Police warn of scams that target bank customers
There has been an emergence of a new variant of a scam targeting bank customers, the police said yesterday.
As part of the scam, members of the public would receive loan advertisement messages purportedly sent by banks such as United Overseas Bank (UOB).
UOB has confirmed it does not send out such loan ads.
The police also advised members of the public to beware of unsolicited messages or calls from persons impersonating as staff from banks.
Scammers may use caller ID spoofing technology, where their actual phone number is masked to display the bank's number and logo as the profile picture on mobile applications such as Viber and WhatsApp.
The public should ignore these messages and block or report the number as spam on WhatsApp or through third-party applications.
Those who receive suspicious calls or messages purportedly from the bank should also call the bank's hotline to verify the authenticity of the message, and to not call the number provided by the caller or the one shown in the message.
If the public wishes to provide information related to such scams, they can call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000 or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness
To seek scam-related advice, the public can call the National Crime Prevention Council's anti-scam helpline on 1800-722-6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg
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