COVID-19: Police rubbish claims they had set up road blocks to catch safe distancing flouters
SINGAPORE — Police have refuted claims that they had stopped and fined members of the public at road blocks for not complying with the elevated safe distancing measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.
In a post put up on its Facebook page on Monday (13 April), the police said that they have not conducted road blocks specifically to enforce the safe distancing measures, and no passengers have been fined yet for not complying with the measures.
“There are messages circulating via text messaging services making false claims that members of the public had been stopped at police road blocks and fined for not complying with the elevated safe distancing measures,” it said in the post.
“This is not true.”
The police said that they conduct road blocks to detect offences such as for drink-driving, and other law enforcement purposes, such as to detect wanted persons.
Nevertheless, if they come across motorists and passengers flouting the elevated safe distancing measures when conducting such road blocks, they may take enforcement action.
New China officials impersonation scam
Meanwhile, the police are alerting the public to a new China officials impersonation scam. Since March, police have received at least five such reports, with total losses amounting to more than $110,000.
In this new scam, callers would impersonate as staff from the Ministry of Health before referring victims to scammers claiming to be China officials. They would claim that China officials had seized parcels containing contraband medicine to treat COVID-19, which are registered under the victims’ names.
The calls would then be transferred to another person claiming to be from the “Chinese police” investigating the case. The victims would be duped into believing that their identities had been misused and that they needed to provide their personal information for investigation, in order to absolve themselves from any criminal offence.
The victims were also instructed not to disclose any information, and were asked to contact the “Chinese police” on a daily basis.
In past cases of China officials impersonation scam, scammers had also impersonated staff from courier companies, telecommunication service providers or officers from government organisations, informing victims of the following:
A mobile number registered in their name was linked to a crime;
There was a pending court case against them; and/or
They had committed a criminal offence and were required to assist in investigations.
Police would like to emphasise to the public that authorities will not ask them for their banking credentials or to transfer money to bank accounts.
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