Working closely with the staff of a local bank and a remittance centre, Police have foiled a kidnap scam attempt believed to be perpetrated by an overseas syndicate.

On Tuesday, the victim, a 55-year-old housewife, received a call at her residence, from an unknown male caller with a heavy Chinese accent.

The caller claimed that the victim's son had been kidnapped and demanded a ransom of S$30,000. As the victim heard cries from the background over the phone, she presumed that her son, who was having his vacation overseas, had indeed been kidnapped.

Fearing for his safety, the victim proceeded to an Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) branch at People's Park Centre and withdrew a sum of S$30,000.

The OCBC bank teller noticed that the victim appeared nervous and suspected that something was amiss.

As the victim was constantly on the phone, the bank teller communicated with her by writing on a piece of paper.

The victim revealed in writing that her son has been kidnapped and she did not want Police's assistance. The victim left the bank hastily and was observed to be walking towards Pearl's Centre.

The bank teller immediately alerted her manager who informed the Police.

The victim proceeded to a remittance centre, WealthGate International Trading Pte Ltd and requested to urgently remit S$29,500 to an account in China. The two staff members of the remittance centre observed that the victim was unusually anxious and suspected that she might have fallen prey to a scam.

Quickly, they showed the victim advisories on phone scams and placed a hold on the remittance. They then contacted the Police.

Officers from Central Police Division and the CAD responded swiftly and met the victim at Pearl's Centre. They managed to calm the victim down and helped her contact her son.

It was eventually established that the victim's son was safe and sound. The full amount of cash was recovered and returned to the victim.

Commander of Central Police Division, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police Lau Peet Meng and Director Commercial Affairs Department Mr Ong Hian Sun commended the OCBC bank staff and staff members of WealthGate International Trading Pte Ltd for their good observation, calm response and public spiritedness.

The good coordination between staff of the financial institutions and the Police has proved to be critical in preventing the victim from falling prey to the scam.

The police reminds members of the public to remain on the alert against these kidnap scams, as well as the other variations such as the lottery or lucky draw telephone scams.

They should remain calm and try to contact their next-of-kin immediately. Should repeated attempts at contacting their loved-ones fail, they should then contact the police.

In addition, they could pose questions to the kidnapper to verify the identity of the purportedly kidnapped victim, for instance, the number of family members staying together or whether there are pets in the house, to help them establish if the call is indeed genuine.