1. There has been a recent spate of cases involving victims who received phone calls / e-mails from scamsters claiming to be officials of Ministry of Manpower (MOM) / Immigration and Check Points Authority (ICA) / Singapore Companies offering jobs to Indian nationals.  Sometimes they also send messages claiming to be on behalf of High Commission of India (HCI), Singapore. Instances have also come to notice, where the callers fake the phone numbers of the HCI while contacting prospective victims. These impersonators would contact targeted Indian nationals to convey varying things such as: 

• their immigration particulars were incorrect while entering Singapore and if money was not paid, they would be deported.
• their documentation with MOM / ICA is incorrect and need to be rectified to prevent rejection.
• they have been selected for a job in a company in Singapore, etc.

2. The victims would then be asked to transfer funds to some account, towards charges to rectify errors in their records/documentation, to legitimize their stay in Singapore or to facilitate visa and tickets for their travel to Singapore, as the case may be. Often they advise that the transfer be done immediately.

3. The High Commission, the MOM or the ICA does not call up members of public for funds transfer pertaining to any of their requirements. The public need to be alert against fake job offers and verify in advance the credentials of the company offering a job. Job offers should also invariably be got verified from known contact persons of the company concerned.

 4. Members of public who receive such phone calls / e-mails should do the following:

• Ignore such demands received over phone calls/e-mails
• Completely disregard instructions through such calls/e-mails to transfer money online or via remittance agencies, banks or any other means; and
• Call the Police immediately on '999' to report such cases and also contact the High Commission at [email protected].
• Share the experience on scamalert.sg.

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