Police Advice: If You Miss A Call Starting With ‘999’, Don’t Call Back.

Scammers are now using fake telephone calls to target victims.

Fraudsters use to be school drop-outs but the recent technological innovations used for scams prove otherwise, forcing the police to warn unsuspecting phone users not to accept calls starting with ‘999’. If you miss any such such, do not bother calling back.

Telephone scam has been on the rise around Asia in recent years, warranting arrests and deportation of many Chinese from Malaysia, early this year.

“It is not the police calling you, it is a phone scam”, police in Singapore warns according to news from AsiaOne.

“Do not call it back as you will be connected to the Police emergency hotline at ‘999’ instead.”

The Singapore Police Force posted an advisory on its Facebook page to the public to beware of phone numbers with ‘999X XXXX’, advising that some members of the public had received unknown missed calls starting with the numbers ‘999X XXXX’ on their mobile phones.

When they made a return call, they would be connected to the Police emergency hotline at ‘999’ instead, said the post. What happens to your phone within those few seconds will surprise you.

Image: File photo

“Members of the public are advised to ignore such calls from unknown origins, where Caller ID spoofing technology may be used to mask the actual phone number and display a different number,” said the police in the post.

It’s a known fact that police emergency hotlines are calls only. However, the crooks have used this spoofing technology to cheat unsuspecting citizens of their hard earned money.

Security Tip: Do not release personal details or bank account information to anyone through phone or email. Be wise. The police or bank will never ask for your confidential details by such means.