A news release by the police officer on Thursday (July 21) announced that two women, 31 and 40-years-old, were arrested along Bedok Road on Monday (July 18) due to their suspected involvement in internet love scam.
The victim, a 41-year-old woman, knew a man from the internet in May 2016. She was made to believe that she was getting into a romantic relationship with the unidentified man.
She was later said to have been persuaded by the suspects to transfer the money to an overseas bank account. She transferred the money on two different occasions amounted close to S$77,783.
A friend who was suspicious about the matter, advised the victim to lodge a police report. The investigation ran by officers from Bedok Division finally established the identities of the suspects.
The two women were arrested along Bedok Road and cash amounting to S$20,000 was recovered from one of them.
According to the statistics from Reach Singapore, the number of e-commerce cheating, credits-for-sex and Internet love scams almost doubled to 3,759 cases last year, continuing an upward trend seen in 2014. These three types of crimes saw victims cheated of a total of more than $16 million.
In their statement, the police also advised the member of public to do this following precaution to avoid the internet love scam :
- Do not receive/send money from/to people you do not know well, especially if you have not met in person
- Be in control of your emotions and meet all requests for money with a cool head, knowing that it could be a scam
- Do not reveal too much about yourself, particularly in the form of photos or videos, to prevent you from being blackmailed later on
- Contact the police immediately if you receive any message or call from someone claiming to be in trouble overseas and urgently needs you to send money
- Inform the police if anyone tries to extort money from you
