SINGAPORE, Sept 18 — The police have alerted the public about a new type of scam, in which scammers pose as technical support staff from Singtel or the Singapore Police Force and ask victims to download software that would help them gain access to the victims’ bank accounts.

In one version of the ruse, the scammer would tell the victim that they are a staff of Singtel, and that there are issues with the victim’s modem or Internet connection, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a statement today.

Sometimes, these scammers instead pose as someone from the "Cyber Crime Department of Singapore” or the "Cyber Police of Singapore”, and accuse victims of having committed a criminal offence.

The scammers would then tell victims to download software applications like "Teamviewer” or "AnyDesk” to either help "resolve” their Internet connection issues or to assist in bogus investigations. 

Once the software applications were installed on the victims’ computers, the scammers would use them to access the victims’ computers remotely and request the victims to log onto their online bank accounts. Once they are logged in, the scammers would transfer funds out of these bank accounts without the victims’ consent. 

Since last month, at least 21 cases of this nature have been reported, with more than S$1.5 million (RM4.6 million) lost, said the police. 

Should members of public fall for the scam, they should: