A Close Call
Today, I received a phone call from Singapore MOM. (Ministry of Manpower). The officer informed me that during my recent entry into Singapore, I wrote my DOB (date of birth) wrong on the immigration card (instead of mm/dd, i had written in dd/mm) Upon verification by embassy of Singapore in Delhi, it failed. I’ve been told my passport has been “black marked” which means I have to deport Singapore immediately and will no longer be eligible to work in Singapore in my entire life!! Apparently high court case was raised in Delhi too. I was doomed. However, I can get out of this if my DOB can be re-verified and the case can be close. For this, have to report in Delhi high court by tomorrow to get the verification done and close the case! He provided me the complete details of whom to contact in Delhi and about the case with reference numbers. So, I will have to leave tomorrow morning!
He also informed if the verification in Delhi is successful, I have to meet an embassy officer in MOM, to verify my DOB certificate, passport, employment pass again here in Singapore. The officer will provide me the scan copy of immigration card that I had wrongly written, I have to fill in the correct details in the new immigration card. He will sign and email Singapore embassy in India to re-verify and close the case. Verification and case closing charges have to be borne by myself. That will be the whole process. However, I was given an option to do the process in Singapore itself (without going to India) by emailing scan copies of Birth certificate, passports etc to the Singapore Embassy in Delhi . And then I can visit MOM later today to meet the officer and finish the formalities to continue my stay in Singapore.
I was totally in it until he said the amount to be paid was 900$ for verification & 980$ more for case closing! Gosh! Little suspicious now, I inquired if he is legal, he made me open mom.gov.sg website (the official, original, real MOM website of Singapore) and check the ‘Contact Us’ page. The call on which I am is from the same phone number!! It must be true! Crazy! While he was trying to find the closest Sing Post address so that I can make the payment, I for some reason (was smart enough?) to google “MOM scam” and found that MOM website posted to be alert about this kind of Phone call scams and call the Police hotline number. I immediately disconnected the call and called Police hotline, it gave me busy tone for 5 mins (I had 10 missed calls meanwhile from this scammer). Then I called 999 (the urgent police assistance number), I told the Police officer that I got call from MOM about immigration card issue, he just said - “its fake, ignore the call” and he dropped the call. So simple?! (Meanwhile, I had 5 more missed calls from the scammer). I just ignored further calls and researched more to find that this is a huge scam in Singapore now!
I escaped the trap!
Beware All..!