At least S$4.8 million lost to scams involving fake Harvey Norman staff since January

SINGAPORE: Police have warned of a surge in scams involving fraudsters posing as Harvey Norman employees, with at least 119 cases reported this year.

The scams have resulted in losses of at least S$4.8 million (US$3.8 million) since January, police said on Monday (Sep 21).

Victims would receive unsolicited calls from scammers pretending to be Harvey Norman staff, claiming the victims had bought a television set or had a pending delivery confirmation. 

When the victims denied making the purchase, the scammers would say that their personal details had been misused and that further investigations were needed.

The victims would then be transferred to another scammer pretending to be a Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) officer, who would accuse them of being involved in criminal activities like money laundering.

To facilitate the purported investigations, victims would be instructed to transfer money to a "safe account".

In some cases, they were told to withdraw cash, buy gold bars or bring valuables such as jewellery and luxury watches to hand over to unknown individuals for "investigation purposes".

Victims were assured that their money and valuables would be returned after the "investigations" were completed, only to realise later that they had been scammed after making multiple money transfers without receiving the refunds they were promised.

The police reiterated that Singapore government officials will never ask members of the public to transfer or hand over cash or valuables, or disclose their banking login details.

Government officials will also never ask them to install mobile apps from unverified app stores or transfer their call to the police and other government officials.

Members of the public are encouraged to take precautionary measures, including using the ScamShield app to guard against scam calls and SMSes.

Those in doubt can also call the 24/7 ScamShield helpline at 1799.