Singapore Customs Warns of Rising Parcel Scams

Singapore Customs has raised an alert about two new scam methods circulating across the region, targeting individuals through fraudulent parcel notifications and forged official documents.

In the first scheme, victims receive messages claiming their parcels are being withheld due to compliance issues. These messages are accompanied by fake inspection notices that appear to be issued by senior officials. Recipients are instructed to attend an inspection or pay a “verification fee” to avoid delays. The scammers then push victims to fill out a forged inspection agreement form, designed to extract personal and banking information.

As the deadline approaches, the scammers intensify pressure by issuing warnings of potential legal consequences and attempts to involve authorities if the fee is not paid. Several victims who sought clarification discovered they had been contacted through numbers registered outside Singapore, indicating coordinated cross-border targeting.

A second scam variant involves fraudulent notifications claiming that valuable items registered under the victims’ names are being held. To make the scenario believable, the perpetrators share photos of the items along with forged documents resembling official Customs paperwork. Victims are threatened with item seizure, financial penalties, or restrictions on future shipments unless immediate payments are made.

Singapore Customs stressed that it never demands payment for the release of parcels and that all official communication is issued through verified government channels. The agency highlighted that such scams damage public confidence and urged the public to stay vigilant and report suspicious activity.