It has come to our attention that members of the public have received calls purportedly made by an officer from Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), who alleged that they had committed immigration offences. Call recipients were then told that they would be repatriated to their country of origin if they did not transfer a sum of money. Most of the calls were made using the number “6438 5122”.

2.       ICA would like to clarify that these calls were not made by our officers. ICA does not call members of the public to request for money over the phone. Members of the public are advised to take the following precautions when they receive such calls:

• Don’t panic – Ignore the calls and caller’s instructions. No government agency will request for personal details or transfer of money over the phone or through automated voice machines. Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act as you may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgment.
  
  
• Don’t believe – Scammers may use caller ID spoofing technology to mask the actual phone number and display a different number. Calls that appear to be from a local number may not actually be made from Singapore. If you receive a suspicious call from a local number, hang up, wait a while, then call the number back to check the validity of the request. For foreign residents receiving calls from persons claiming to be police officers or government officials from your home country, hang up the call and dial the number of your Embassy/High Commission to verify the claims of the caller.
  
  
• Don’t give – Do not provide your name, identification number, passport details, contact details, bank account or credit card details. Such information are useful to criminals.

3.       ICA takes a serious view of such scam calls as it undermines public trust in ICA. If you wish to provide any information related to such scams, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/I-Witness. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.

4.       To seek scam-related advice, you may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg. Help spread the word and share this advisory with your family and friends to prevent them from becoming the next victim of scam.

IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
1 DECEMBER 2018