Student in SG, 16, made to fake kidnapping for ransom in China officials’ scam

The police advised the public to ignore calls from numbers with the ‘ ’ prefix that originate from overseas. — Photo by Hannah Wei on Unsplash

SINGAPORE: When fraudsters posing as Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers accused 16-year-old Peter (not his real name) in April of being involved in a scam, the teenager was terrified.

They said he had a mobile number in China which had been used to cheat victims in Singapore.