On 25 June 2019, a member of public received a call from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)’s Call Centre number “6391 6100”. The caller claimed to be an ICA officer and asked questions about the victim’s background and residence status for verification purposes. He threatened to deport her back to her country of origin or be taken into custody, unless she pays a ‘security deposit’ in the form of ‘Apple iTunes card’. Thereafter, the victim would have to provide the card activation number to the ‘ICA officer’. 

2        This is a scam. ICA would like to clarify that this call was not made by our officers. ICA does not call members of the public to request money in any form 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 personal information such as name, identification number, passport details, contact details, bank account or credit card details to suspicious or unknown parties. 

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/iwitness. 

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
28 JUNE 2019