Police Nab Six Teenagers Over Mobile Phone Scams

SINGAPORE, April 10 (Bernama) -- The police have detained six teenagers to facilitate investigations into a series of scams involving the use of victims’ mobile phones to purchase game credits. The suspects, comprising five boys and a girl, are aged between 13 and 15. Initial investigations revealed they had been operating since February this year, and involved in more than 10 cases, the majority occurring at gaming centres. In a statement today, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said the police had received reports from victims who had lent their mobile phones to strangers, claiming their phones were either faulty or had run out of battery. It said the culprits usually targeted owners of smart phones and in most cases, the culprits would offer to hand over their own mobile phones to the victims to gain trust. "Upon obtaining the victims’ mobile phones, the culprits would send SMSes supposedly to their friends or contact their friends through Facebook. "Following this, the mobile phones would be returned to the unsuspecting victims who would only realise something amiss when they received their phone bills," said the statement. -- BERNAMA