Conmen Who Offered To Perform Prayer Committing Theft

From Singapore Police Force Facebook:

Crime Alert - Conmen Who Offered To Perform Prayer Committing Theft

Beware of strangers approaching your home to offer prayers as a ploy to commit theft.

Police have received reports of culprits who approached residents in their flats, holding a framed picture of Buddha and a container for donations. The culprits would either request to enter the flat or enter without invitation. One of the culprits would distract the victim by saying prayers, including giving 4D numbers, while the other culprits would search the unit for cash and jewellery. While perpetrators may vary their tactics in their attempts to deceive victims, their aim is to gain entry into units and distract the victim while their accomplices search the unit for valuables.

Descriptions of the culprits are as follows:
• Three male subjects believed to be Indian;
• Two of them in their thirties/forties and one of them in his fifties ; and
• Spoke to victims in Tamil and Malay.

Residents should adopt the following crime prevention measures:

• Do not allow strangers into your residence;
• Keep your front metal gate locked when interacting with strangers outside your residence;
• Refrain from keeping large sums of cash and valuables in your residence and should there be a need to do so, a safe should be used to safekeep these items; and
• Keep a lookout for any suspicious person(s) loitering outside your or your neighbours’ residence.

If you have any information on the crime or wish to report suspicious person(s) loitering in your estate, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255 0000 or dial ‘999’ for urgent Police assistance. View the following video for similar cases reported previously

Fire Extinguisher Scam in Singapore

During September 2011, this lady was seen in Tanjong Pagar (Singapore) area, trying to sell fire extinguisher.

Door-to-door sales in HDB (Housing Development Board) flats was never uncommon but this lady was trying to deceive the residents by providing false information.

First, she introduced herself as a representative from SCDF (Singapore Civil Defence Force).

Second, she told the residents that SCDF would implement a law that every household should have a fire extinguisher by year 2012.

She claimed that she was selling fire extinguisher at a cheaper price before the law was implemented.

What she was trying to do was to instinct fears in the residents so that they would buy fire extinguishers from her.

The residents called the SCDF directly to check and they were told that SCDF did not send anyone to sell fire extinguishers. Whereas, there was no plan on the law that every residential household should own a fire extinguisher.

The residents went after the lady who was trying to use the same tactic to con their neighbours.

They demanded her to show them her ID card again but she refused. She then declared that she was from an agency representing SCDF and that she was not directly working under SCDF. They followed her as she continued her scam. Soon she knew they meant business and quickly left the place.

This lady was lucky that the neighbourhood police centre, after receiving the complaint through phone call, did not send officer down immediately to investigate.