SINGAPORE: At least S$1.7 million (US$1.2 million) have been lost so far this year to scams involving the impersonation of officers from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as well as representatives from NTUC Union, Income Insurance and UnionPay.

Six cases have been reported to the Singapore Police Force (SPF) since January 2025.

In a joint media release on Friday (Mar 14), SPF and MAS laid out the scammers' modus operandi, warning people not to fall for these scams.

Victims would receive calls from local mobile lines that start with +65 or 8, informing them that they have outstanding premiums associated with a new or expiring life insurance policy.

They were then redirected to a second scammer who would request personal information such as bank account details and personal information to verify their policy details.

Victims were told that unless they cancel the insurance policy, the outstanding fees would automatically be deducted from their bank accounts. This led to them verifying their bank accounts by performing bank transfers to a specific bank account.

"To cancel the insurance policy, victims would first have to verify their bank accounts by performing bank transfers to a specified bank account. In some cases, victims would be guided in performing these transfers through WhatsApp’s screen-sharing function," said SPF and MAS.

"Throughout the process, victims were given the assurance that their monies would be refunded upon successful cancellation of their insurance policies."

In other cases, victims were misled by scammers posing as MAS officers.

These scammers told victims that their bank accounts were involved in money laundering activities or that their personal information had been compromised, and that to “assist in investigations”, they had to transfer money to a specific bank account.

Victims only realised that they were tricked when the scammers became uncontactable or did not receive refunds.

The authorities said NTUC Union, Income Insurance, and UnionPay will never ask for personal information or payments to a personal bank account through unsolicited phone calls, emails, WhatsApp messages, or SMS.

"Any such requests should be treated as fraudulent," said SPF and MAS.

Payments for insurance policies should only be made through Income Insurance's secure payment portals, which include the official customer portal ME@INCOME, the Interactive Voice Recognition phone system, AXS and through internet banking bill payment.

Policyholders can also contact their advisers for assistance.

"MAS would like to alert members of the public that MAS will not, at any time, ask you to transfer money or disclose personal or banking credentials," said the financial regulator.

"MAS also does not maintain any records of individuals' financial or banking accounts, nor does it hold funds of individuals."

The authorities advised people to use the ScamShield App to block unwanted calls and filter SMSes.

Members of the public may also want to set transaction limits that are suitable for daily expenses and lower notification thresholds for transactions.