Overseas Phone Call Scams

Have you been getting phone calls from overseas?



+200034
+67690110
+67690112
+99001

If you have picked up the call by accidental or due to your courage, do let us know how does the scam work. Did the scammer ask you to collect any prize or tell you that your relative is being kidnapped overseas?

If you don't know how to differentiate between overseas and local call, do read on.

Whenever anyone calls you, the number will display a plus "+" on the left, together with the country code (a number). For new number calling you from Singapore, you may see +65 on the left because 65 is Singapore's country code. If you receive a call from your friend without "+65", it may be due to you saving his/her number without it on your phone's address book before that.

Currently, Singapore's numbers consist of eight digits. Numbers beginning with "6" are for residential and office use, while "9" and "8" (newer) are for mobile phone. That means you will only receive calls from your local friend with either eight or 10 (with "65") digits.

Scammers can be tricky enough to use numbers starting with the digits "6" or even "65" to call you. Since residential and office number starts with the digit "6", we may fall into their tricks and think it is a local call.

Do note that it is also possible to fake phone number.

Now, back to the main topic... Whoever knows the real intention of the overseas calls, do update us!

Job Scams Regarding Tan Tock Seng Hospital

Scammers have created fake email address to email to victims regarding job opportunities in Singapore. The scammer would then collect fee from the victims.

Do note that big organisations and companies will have their own domain name in their email addresses. For example, Tan Tock Seng Hospital's domain name is www.ttsh.com.sg and their email addresses will be something like contact@ttsh.com.sg. They will not use free emails such as GMail, Yahoo Mail or Outlook.

By the way, the scammer may also get similar domain names like tssh or ttshospital to trick. When in doubt, always Google for the real website and check with the authority.


From Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Facebook page.

Dear friends,

We wish to alert you of a possible scam, where emails requesting payment for employment opportunities at Tan Tock Seng Hospital were sent to residents in the Philippines. These emails invited interested applicants to attend a supposed 'Tan Tock Seng Hospital Working Visa Interview Coaching' in the Philippines on Aug 3-4. Please note that Tan Tock Seng Hospital did not send out any emails of this nature. The emails are from tantocksenghosp@live.com, which is a bogus email address.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital does not have a consultancy firm in the Philippines, nor do we collect payment from candidates for any training or coaching. Any interest on job opportunities are to be made directly with our Human Resource department at hr_enquiry@ttsh.com.sg.

We have reported this matter to the authorities. Do warn your friends or loved ones who may have received similar emails. Our thanks to those who alerted us to this. Thank you.

Part-time Job Scams For Minor Preys

This is one of the most sickenning scams we have come across so far.

As reported by Channel News Asia, a 22-year-old guy by the name of Emmanuel Lim Chin Pin preyed on young girls using Facebook. His four victims are between the age of 13 to 14.

For his fourth victim, he offered part-time job that paid $25 per hour just to "feedback about massage service". He would then pretend to be the masseuse and make the victim strip off her school uniform before molesting and sexually abusing her.

Everyone should beware of high paying part-time jobs that require you to go into private houses. If you really can't resist the temptation of the money, at least bring a friend along.

We are very sure that similar scam methods will be used sooner or later. In fact, it is very easy to create a fake Facebook account to do it. Please look out for your friends and give necessary help and advice in order to prevent such crazy thing to happen again.

Lastly, we hope the victims will be able to get over the shadows of their lives soon.

Facebook Impersonate Scam to Ask Victim's Friends for Money

We have witnessed many fake social media profiles in both Facebook and Tagged. Most of the accounts are pretty "harmless".

Today, we have been notified about a more unusual impersonate scam (has happened before though) that the scammer is trying to con the victim's friends into "loaning" him/her money.

The victim is Lyndie Ong, https://www.facebook.com/LyndieOng, a Malaysian.







We would like to advise everyone that if you happen to receive a text from a friend whether through social media or SMS to ask for "help", it's better to double confirm by calling the person directly to hear the voice, or even to meet up the person. You will never know who has hacked or stolen your friend's account or even phone.

Stuck-at-Custom Friendship Scams

Below is likely to be a scam. The scammer would pretend to befriend the victim and decide to drop by the victim's country. Then, he would be "trapped" at the custom for whatever reasons and require the victim's financial assistance.

There are many kind souls among us who are willing to offer help to friends. However, we would like everyone to take extra precaution when it comes to any form of help that involves in money. Even your real life friends may not return you the money you loan to them, what makes you think an online friend from another country will return?




Hi all,

I came across this blog, read the stories, and thought I should share mine. It is not 100% certified as a scam case, but I am at least 99% sure. Do tell me what you think after reading.

It all began when I downloaded an app called PlanetRomeo to my iPhone. It's a gay hook-up app, so to speak.

One fine day, I got a message from this guy. He first asked me how was the weather in Singapore, and we started chatting from there. We hit it off straightaway.

He said he was from Cardiff, UK, and said that his current project would end soon, and his next project would be at Australia. He claimed that he was looking for a friend to hang out with during the 3 weeks between his current project in the UK, and the next one at Perth.

So I found out from him when he would be arriving and all the details, and waited in anticipation for his arrival.

The fateful day arrived.

Tuesday, 18 June, 2013.
I received a call from an unknown number at around 12+ pm. It was him! I nearly had a heart attack, thinking that he had arrived in Singapore.

Sadly, no, he was not in Singapore. He told me that he was stuck at the KL customs. When I asked him why, he told me he was carrying a large amount of cash, and that his cash had been confiscated by the authorities. He needed 2600 Malaysian Ringgit to pay for an anti-money laundering certificate. He said he had only 1200 Malaysian Ringgit in his wallet, and asked if I could send him the balance. I did.

Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Wednesday, 19 June 2013.
Another call was received from him, at around the same time. This time, he asked for 1800 Malaysian Ringgit. He claimed that the customs officer's boss needed him to pay this amount for some form of insurance. So I obliged.

Thursday, 20 June, 2013.
Wow, another call. This time, he said he needed 800 Malaysian Ringgit to pay for some endorsement that will enable him to pass through the Singapore customs without being stopped again because of his cash.

I remitted the money, and a few hours later, he called me again, and said that it should be 800 Singapore Dollars instead. Well, what could I do? I helped again.

Friday, 21 June, 2013.
What needed to be done now was for him to check that his luggage had not been tampered with, and that his cash was all intact.

He asked for 2800 Malaysian Ringgit, saying that he needed to purchase some Swif Code that will enable him to open his luggage to check.

I started getting suspicious, and googled to find out what was a Swif Code - I did not find any information on it.

Stupidly thinking that this would be the last hurdle, I remitted this amount accordingly.

He told me that he had managed to contact his kid sister in the US, and she will be remitting some money to my account

Saturday, 22 June, 2013.
I got an email from this lady, who attached the PDF copies of the transaction she did at the Bank of America. It was a wire transfer for an amount of USD 5000. Transaction was done on Fri, 21 June, 2013, US timing 9 or 10am. It was called a Payment Advice. Of course, I was more reassured with this so-called "proof".

Back to him. Well, he had the Swif Code, but before they could release his luggage back to him, he needed to pay for some customs overstay, which was quite a big amount. I can't remember how much it was, but I paid up accordingly.

Sunday, 23 June, 2013.
No news.

Monday, 24 June, 2013.
He called and told me he was not able to leave on Saturday, although I had already remitted the funds, because the office that was supposed to clear him to leave for Singapore was open half day. He needed more money for overstay.

Tuesday, 25 June, 2013.
I remitted some money via Western Union to him to pay for the overstay, but for some reason, the KL Western Union machine had some problems, and he could not get that funds. The airport officer told me that because this is a machine fault, he will not be charged for the overstay from 25 June - 12 pm on 26 June.

He also claimed that he had spoken to someone from the UK embassy, and told the person about his circumstances.

Wednesday, 26 June, 2013.
Got an SMS from the airport officer, saying that they had booked an evening flight for him.

I was overjoyed, because I thought I would finally be able to meet him, and get my money back.

My happiness was short-lived.

Shortly after the SMS from the airport officer, he called, and said that they were going to charge him for the overstay... I was speechless.

Desperately, I checked my bank account to see if his sister's funds have come through - no, no news at all.

Anyway, the conclusion: I dished out around S$7500, most of which was borrowed from friends and family, to help this man. My only hope is that the USD 5000 would come in accordingly...

Joey's Fake Tagged Profile - Alice T

http://www.tagged.com/profile.html?uid=5977415234

This is Joey's fake Tagged profile under the name of "Alice T". She doesn't have any Tagged profile at this point of time.

This profile is likely created for playing of the Pets game.

If you have anymore detail or interaction with this fake profile, do update us.

Prize Money Phone Scam

We have received an email as of below:



This is one of the most convincing scams that I almost fell for which happened to me over a period of a month.

I first received a call from a "blocked" number 2 months ago, where a female woman who speaks pretty good chinese asked me a few survey questions about my handphone choice as well as electronic products. I was eager to get off the phone so I answered quickly and without much thought. The lady ended the call by saying that her company will be having an electronic fair the next day in Singapore and that my number will be entered for a lucky draw. I didnt give it much thought afterwards.

One month of silence.

4 weeks later I received a similar call from the same woman who spoke fluent Chinese. She asked me whether I could remember the similar call she made 4 weeks ago about the lucky draw. She identified herself as Chen Xiu Zhu. I was eager to get off the phone so I just skimmed through her questions with all my superficial answers. To which she responded calmly that my number won 3rd place for the lucky draw, which included a 15 day tour to America for four people that is worth 618, 600 HK dollars. I was very skeptical but the woman was extremely glib and persuasive. She even went to the extent by telling me that this fair can be found on local media (as they had coverage over it) and I could check the chinese news. She probably knew by then that I wasnt too good with my Chinese and tried to lead me to that unfamiliar direction. She even provided me a link to the Hong Kong based company's internet address where I could find all the information of the fair and lucky draw on it. The link is: www.xinskhk.com. The company's name is Hong Kong Hong Xin Shun electronics

She then asked me to claim the prize within the next two weeks, just by simply providing copies of my passport and passports of my family members to her. I then asked her to give me some time to check it out and she gladly did. During the conversation she also noted my apparent skepticism and spent a good 10 minutes telling me not to worry that it isnt a scam and that they will not collect a single cent from me. When I got off the phone I immediately went to check the website and true enough, the company seemed pretty legit. I then went to consult my dad to ask if he thinks its legit and we both were skeptical about it.

The very next day, the same woman called back and said that I had the chance to either take the trip or convert the trip into cash which would amount to 540,000 HK dollars after reduction of a proportion of money. She kept congratulating me and even provided me more details about the company, because at that point I asked her what the catch was. She said that the Hong Kong based electronics company was planning to come to Singapore to set up shop later in October that year and that all I had to do was to come down to the event and answer reporters which will be covered by the media. Sounds pretty legit so far, as she kept emphasizing that her company will not take a single cent from me. All i had to do was to agree and provide her my name, IC number, Date of birth and bank account number and they will transfer the money over.

These are the factors that made the entire operation seem legit:
1. She kept emphasizing that her company will not take a single cent from me
2. The website she gave me seemed legit and even contained a news result on the lucky draw of which my phone number was listed
3. I couldnt seem to find any scam reports or alerts to this particular case on the internet
4. She managed to convince me that her company was setting up shop in Singapore later in the year
5. She managed to keep me on the phone for close to an hour, explaining that she will never resort to a scam and told me all the company was doing etc etc, basically building a very strong rapport with me, even telling me that I could go to the police if I wanted to but emphasizing that her company was legit
6. The very next day she even set up an account for me under the guise of a hong kong hang loong bank or something and even gave an account number: 0008168959 and a password that all seemed pretty legit
7. She willingly talked to my dad for an hour reassuring him that its not a scam
8. She conducted herself in a very professional manner, so much to the extent where i literally placed my trust in her

What busted her:
1. So it was during the week of dumpling festival where she told me that there will be three days of holidays for her and she will call me back the week after to confirm the transfer of money to my POSB account. So far so good, she hasnt asked for any money yet
2. Two weeks passed and she finally gave me a call, telling me that another personnel from the "bank" will give me a call later to confirm the transfer of funds
3. truly enough another person called me and requested that i hand over another document before the transaction can be complete (sounded very professional)
4. As they probably played on the fact that my Chinese wasnt very good, the other person made me call Chen Xiu Zhu (that same woman) from the company to assist me in the handing over of another document (which makes the story more legit)
5. Finally, after weeks of playing it back and forth, Chen Xiu Zhu finally says that I needed to hand over 4.5% of the amount over to the "bank" holding my money as they were transfering funds across countries. The first red flag. She made the mistake of identifying the instituition that held my money to be government run.
6. The second red flag - A call made from my dad to the monetary authority of Hong Kong revealed that there was no such existing agreement in such a government instituition and advised that it was most definitely a scam
7. A call made again to Chen Xiu Zhu, who suddenly became hesitant and anxious in her speech, insisting that this isnt a scam etc etc. The final red flag came when the pre-existing telephone number suddenly became defunct when I tried calling the same number as listed on the company's website
8. A more thorough check on the internet, I managed to find a very similar case posted by "almost victims" on http://saltwetfish.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/hong-kong-price-money-phone-scam/#comments

Really angry because so much thought and planning has gone behind the many phone calls made back and forth. No matter how sweet tongued and glib these people sound, as the old saying goes, if its too good to be true, it probably is!