Public Advisory On Scams

From time to time, members of the public may receive documents, text messages or calls purportedly from Singapore Customs officers.

These scammers usually claim that Singapore Customs has detained an item, or that the recipient has committed an offence, and request the recipient to do one of the following:

• Open a file attachment.
• Transfer a sum of money to an account belonging to an individual to release an item.
• Provide personal bank account number(s).
• Provide confidential personal information such as identification numbers, passwords, and/or credit card numbers.

These are some, but by no means all, of the many common scams. Singapore Customs would like to clarify and alert the public that we do not ask for confidential personal information or request any payment through emails or phone. We also do not send official correspondence from personal email accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or other unofficial email domains.

Singapore Customs takes a serious view of such scams as they undermine public trust in our department. Such scams should be referred to the Singapore Police Force for investigation.

What to look out for and how to protect yourself

Members of the public are advised to take the following precautions when they receive such scam emails, text messages or phone calls, especially from people they do not know:

• Be wary of emails, text messages or phone calls, from people who claim to be Singapore Customs officials.
• Ignore the email, text message or phone call, and do not follow the instructions if you are unable to verify that the sender/caller is indeed a Singapore Customs official.
• Do not open any file attachment in the email as the content may be malicious.
• Do not provide your name, NRIC number, passport details, contact details, bank account or credit card details, or other personal details to the sender/caller.

When in doubt, please contact Singapore Customs on (65) 6355 2000 or email us at customs_feedback@customs.gov.sg to verify the authenticity of any correspondence you have received from Singapore Customs.

Websites claiming that Singapore Customs has released detained goods for sale

Singapore Customs has been alerted to several websites claiming that we have released detained goods such as branded handbags and watches for sale.

These claims are not true. We would like to clarify that Singapore Customs does not release such items for sale.

Members of the public are advised to exercise caution with regard to acting on any claims made by these websites, such as providing personal information or carrying out any financial transactions via the websites.