Police warn of scammers impersonating staff from National Crime Prevention Council
Scammers are posing as staff members from the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) to phish for personal information in a new scam variant, the police have warned.These scammers would make unsolicited phone calls to members of the public, some of whom were told that their identities had been stolen and used to apply for credit cards, or to register phone numbers that were allegedly involved in criminal activities.The police said that in one case, the scammer had transferred the call to another «officer» from NCPC, who talked to the victim via WhatsApp.The scammer sent fake official documents to the victim to enhance his credibility. The victim was then instructed to transfer money into a «safety account» as part of police investigations.The victim only realised he had fallen for a scam after telling his family member about the alleged investigations, prompting the family to verify directly with the police.Senior Assistant Commissioner Devrajan Bala, director of the police's Scam Public Education Office and executive director of NPCP, said they had received information about this scam variant from the ScamShield Helpline.