Constable's death: Delhi Police slap murder charges against 8

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police invoked murder charges against eight people, including a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, after the death of a constable who was severely beaten up by protesters at India Gate on Sunday.

The eight persons were on Monday charged with attempt to murder, rioting and destruction of public property among other sections of IPC.

However, following the death constable Subhash Chand Tomar (47), who was battling for his life at the RML Hospital here, on Tuesday morning, the police decided to slap murder charges against the eight accused.

Those named in the FIR are Shankar Bisht, Nand, Shantanu, Kailash Joshi, Amit Joshi, Abhishek, Nafees Ahmad and Chaman, a member of AAP, the police said.

All the eight have been booked under sections 302 (murder), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of IPC.

They were arrested and released on bail on Monday. Meanwhile, the Aam Admi Party alleged that police has failed to apprehend those actually involved in the incidents of stone-pelting at India Gate.

"They have arrested innocent people who were not involved in any such incident just to prove that their actions of lathicharge, tear gas shelling and water cannon use were right. Police have arrested them from places where they were holding peaceful demonstrations," the party claimed.

The constable, who died, was posted in Karawal Nagar area and was called for maintaining law and order at India Gate area during the protests over the gangrape of a 23-year-old girl on December 16.

Read More..

Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy


CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.


Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including drug use and easy access to guns can increase the likelihood of violence, experts say.


But warning signs "only become crystal clear in the aftermath, said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminology professor who has studied and written about mass killings.


"They're yellow flags. They only become red flags once the blood is spilled," he said.


Whether 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who used his mother's guns to kill her and then 20 children and six adults at their Connecticut school, made any hints about his plans isn't publicly known.


Fox said that sometimes, in the days, weeks or months preceding their crimes, mass murderers voice threats, or hints, either verbally or in writing, things like "'don't come to school tomorrow,'" or "'they're going to be sorry for mistreating me.'" Some prepare by target practicing, and plan their clothing "as well as their arsenal." (Police said Lanza went to shooting ranges with his mother in the past but not in the last six months.)


Although words might indicate a grudge, they don't necessarily mean violence will follow. And, of course, most who threaten never act, Fox said.


Even so, experts say threats of violence from troubled teens and young adults should be taken seriously and parents should attempt to get them a mental health evaluation and treatment if needed.


"In general, the police are unlikely to be able to do anything unless and until a crime has been committed," said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a Columbia University professor of psychiatry, medicine and law. "Calling the police to confront a troubled teen has often led to tragedy."


The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry says violent behavior should not be dismissed as "just a phase they're going through."


In a guidelines for families, the academy lists several risk factors for violence, including:


—Previous violent or aggressive behavior


—Being a victim of physical or sexual abuse


—Guns in the home


—Use of drugs or alcohol


—Brain damage from a head injury


Those with several of these risk factors should be evaluated by a mental health expert if they also show certain behaviors, including intense anger, frequent temper outbursts, extreme irritability or impulsiveness, the academy says. They may be more likely than others to become violent, although that doesn't mean they're at risk for the kind of violence that happened in Newtown, Conn.


Lanza, the Connecticut shooter, was socially withdrawn and awkward, and has been said to have had Asperger's disorder, a mild form of autism that has no clear connection with violence.


Autism experts and advocacy groups have complained that Asperger's is being unfairly blamed for the shootings, and say people with the disorder are much more likely to be victims of bullying and violence by others.


According to a research review published this year in Annals of General Psychiatry, most people with Asperger's who commit violent crimes have serious, often undiagnosed mental problems. That includes bipolar disorder, depression and personality disorders. It's not publicly known if Lanza had any of these, which in severe cases can include delusions and other psychotic symptoms.


Young adulthood is when psychotic illnesses typically emerge, and Appelbaum said there are several signs that a troubled teen or young adult might be heading in that direction: isolating themselves from friends and peers, spending long periods alone in their rooms, plummeting grades if they're still in school and expressing disturbing thoughts or fears that others are trying to hurt them.


Appelbaum said the most agonizing calls he gets are from parents whose children are descending into severe mental illness but who deny they are sick and refuse to go for treatment.


And in the case of adults, forcing them into treatment is difficult and dependent on laws that vary by state.


All states have laws that allow some form of court-ordered treatment, typically in a hospital for people considered a danger to themselves or others. Connecticut is among a handful with no option for court-ordered treatment in a less restrictive community setting, said Kristina Ragosta, an attorney with the Treatment Advocacy Center, a national group that advocates better access to mental health treatment.


Lanza's medical records haven't been publicly disclosed and authorities haven't said if it is known what type of treatment his family may have sought for him. Lanza killed himself at the school.


Jennifer Hoff of Mission Viejo, Calif. has a 19-year-old bipolar son who has had hallucinations, delusions and violent behavior for years. When he was younger and threatened to harm himself, she'd call 911 and leave the door unlocked for paramedics, who'd take him to a hospital for inpatient mental care.


Now that he's an adult, she said he has refused medication, left home, and authorities have indicated he can't be forced into treatment unless he harms himself — or commits a violent crime and is imprisoned. Hoff thinks prison is where he's headed — he's in jail, charged in an unarmed bank robbery.


___


Online:


American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: http://www.aacap.org


___


AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner


Read More..

Newtown Christmas: 'We Know They'll Feel Loved'













As residents prepared to observe Christmas less than two weeks after a gunman killed 20 children and six educators at an elementary school, people sharing in the town's mourning brought offerings of cards, handmade snowflakes and sympathy.



Tiny empty Christmas stockings with the victims' names on them hung from trees in the neighborhood where the children were shot. On Christmas Eve, residents said they would light luminaries outside their homes in memory of the victims.



"We know that they'll feel loved. They'll feel that somebody actually cares," said Treyvon Smalls, a 15-year-old from a few towns away who arrived at town hall with hundreds of cards and paper snowflakes collected from around the state.



At the Trinity Episcopal Church, less than 2 miles from the school, an overflow crowd of several hundred people attended Christmas Eve services. They were greeted by the sounds of a children's choir echoing throughout a sanctuary hall that had its walls decorated with green wreaths adorned with red bows.



The church program said flowers were donated in honor of Sandy Hook shooting victims, identified by name or as the "school angels" and "Sandy Hook families."






Julio Cortez, File/AP Photo











U.S. Sends Christmas Wishes to Newtown, Conn. Watch Video









Season of Giving: Newtown Tragedy Inspires Country to Spread Kindness Watch Video









Gun Violence Victims, Survivors Share Thoughts After Newtown Massacre Watch Video






The service, which generally took on a celebratory tone, made only a few vague references to the shooting. Pastor Kathie Adams-Shepherd led the congregation in praying "that the joy and consolation of the wonderful counselor might enliven all who are touched by illness, danger, or grief, especially all those families affected by the shootings in Sandy Hook."



Police say the gunman, Adam Lanza, killed his mother in her bed before his Dec. 14 rampage and committed suicide as he heard officers arriving. Authorities have yet to give a theory about his motive.



While the grief is still fresh, some residents are urging political activism in the wake of the tragedy. A grassroots group called Newtown United has been meeting at the library to talk about issues ranging from gun control, to increasing mental health services to the types of memorials that could be erected for the victims. Some clergy members have said they also intend to push for change.



"We seek not to be the town of tragedy," said Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel. "But, we seek to be the town where all the great changes started."



Since the shooting, messages similar to the ones delivered Monday have arrived from around the world. People have donated toys, books, money and more. A United Way fund, one of many, has collected $3 million. People have given nearly $500,000 to a memorial scholarship fund at the University of Connecticut. On Christmas Day, police from other towns have agreed to work so Newtown officers can have the time off.



At Washington's National Cathedral, the 20 children who were killed also were remembered. Angels made of paper doilies were used to adorn the altar in the children's chapel. They'll be displayed there through Jan. 6.



In the center of Newtown's Sandy Hook section Monday, a steady stream of residents and out-of-towners snapped pictures, lit candles and dropped off children's gifts at an expansive memorial filled with stuffed animals, poems, flowers, posters and cards.



"All the families who lost those little kids, Christmas will never be the same," said Philippe Poncet, a Newtown resident originally from France. "Everybody across the world is trying to share the tragedy with our community here."





Read More..

Afghan policewoman kills U.S. adviser in police chief's compound


KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan policewoman shot dead on Monday a U.S. forces member in the chief of police's compound in Kabul, police and NATO said, another "insider attack" that is bound to raise troubling questions about the direction of an unpopular war.


It appeared to be the first time that a woman member of Afghanistan's security forces shot a member of the Western coalition force supporting and training Afghanistan's military and police.


"A U.S. police adviser was killed in an attack by an Afghan policewoman," a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.


Mohammad Zahir, head of the police criminal investigation department, described the incident as an "insider attack" in which Afghan forces turn their weapons on Western troops they are supposed to be working with.


After more than 10 years of conflict, militants are capable of staging attacks on Western targets in the heart of the capital, and foreign forces worry that members of the Afghan police and military they are supposed to work with can suddenly turn on them.


The policewoman approached the American adviser as he was walking in the heavily guarded police chief's compound in a bustling area of the capital. She then drew a pistol and shot him once, a senior police official told Reuters.


The police compound is close to the Interior Ministry where in February, two American officers were shot dead at close range at a time anger gripped the country over the burning of copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base.


"She is now under interrogation. She is crying and saying 'what have I done'," said the official of the police officer who worked in a section of the Interior Ministry responsible for gender awareness issues.


The insider incidents, also known as green-on-blue attacks, have undermined trust between coalition and Afghan forces who are under mounting pressure to contain the Taliban insurgency before most NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.


Security responsibilities in a country plagued by conflict for decades will be handed to Afghan security forces.


Many Afghans fear a civil war like one dominated by warlords after the withdrawal of Soviet occupying forces in 1989 could erupt again, or the Taliban will make another push to seize power if they reject a nascent peace process.


At least 52 members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force have been killed this year by Afghans wearing police or army uniforms.


Insider attacks now account for one in every five combat deaths suffered by NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, and 16 percent of all U.S. combat casualties, according to 2012 data.


Hoping to stop the alarming rise in the attacks, Afghan Defense Ministry officials have given their troops tips in foreign culture, telling them not to be offended by a hearty pat on the back or an American soldier asking after your wife's health.


NATO attributes only about a quarter of the attacks to the Taliban, saying the rest are caused by personal grievances and misunderstandings. Last year, there were 35 deaths in such attacks.


(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robert Birsel)



Read More..

Egypt awaits referendum results; opposition cries fraud






CAIRO: Egypt on Monday was awaiting official results of a referendum on a new constitution reportedly backed by two-thirds of voters but which the opposition alleged was riddled with fraud.

"No official date has been fixed" for the final polling figures, a member of the electoral commission, Mohamed el-Tanobly, told AFP. State media had reported the count could be given on Monday.

The Muslim Brotherhood backing President Mohamed Morsi and media say an unofficial tally shows 64 percent of ballots backed the constitution.

But the National Salvation Front opposition coalition claims numerous instances of polling "fraud and violations" and is demanding the electoral commission investigate before issuing its official figures.

"The referendum is not the end of the road. It is only one battle," the Front also said in a statement. "We will continue the fight for the Egyptian people."

The challenge suggested no quick end to Egypt's political crisis, which erupted a month ago when Morsi allocated himself near-absolute powers to push through the charter written up by an Islamist-dominated panel.

Fierce protests, including violent clashes on December 5 that killed eight people and wounded hundreds, led to Morsi giving up those powers early this month.

Egypt remains a deeply polarised nation.

Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, testing newfound power after decades of being sidelined by ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, are spearheading changes to infuse the country with a more Islamist character favoured by the vast poorer part of the population. They say the new constitution will usher in stability.

Against them are ranged the largely urban, liberal, leftwing, Christian and secular supporters of the opposition who feel alienated by Morsi. They see ambiguities inserted in the charter as opening the way to future sharia-style strict Islamic law.

Germany echoed the call for an investigation into the alleged voting fraud, saying the new constitution can only be seen as valid "if the process of its adoption is beyond reproach."

The United States, which provides Egypt's powerful military with $1.3 billion in aid per year, has kept mostly quiet on the turmoil buffeting its key Middle East ally.

But the Republican chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, called the vote "a defeat for the Egyptian people" at the hands of "an Islamic dictatorship."

Iran, which is trying to claim the ongoing Arab Spring was inspired by its own 1979 Islamic revolution, welcomed the referendum by saying it promoted "progressive, Islamic and revolutionary goals" in Egypt.

The political storm in Egypt has deepened economic instability triggered by Mubarak's overthrow in 2011.

Morsi's government is grappling with climbing debt, plunging tourism revenue, a tottering currency and fleeing investors.

A $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund was put on hold this month, adding pressure on Egypt's central bank, whose foreign reserves have more than halved since Mubarak's ouster to less than $15 billion.

State television announced on the weekend that the central bank chief, Faruq El-Okda, was resigning -- before rapidly citing a cabinet source denying that.

"I'm more worried about the economic future of the country today than I was just a few weeks ago," Angus Blair, a veteran financial analyst and head of the Signet Institute think-tank in Cairo, told AFP.

"Voting yes in the constitutional referendum will not stop the economic malaise," he said.

- AFP/al



Read More..

India successfully test-fires Astra missile third time in a week

BHUBANESWAR: India on Monday successfully test-fired its indigenously developed Astra air-to-air interceptor missile from a defence base in Odisha for the third time within a week, an official said.

The beyond-visual-range missile was tested from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, about 230 km from here. The missile intercepted a simulated target.

"There was no actual target. It successfully intercepted a simulated target at an altitude of 4 km," ITR director M V K V Prasad said.

Astra is envisaged to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speeds in the head-on mode at a range of 80 km and in tail-chase mode at 20 km.

The scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which developed the missile had earlier conducted successful tests of the Astra missile from the same base on Friday and Saturday.

"The exercise carried out Monday was to test the missile's interception capability and high manoeuvring," he pointed out.

Read More..

Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy


CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.


Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including drug use and easy access to guns can increase the likelihood of violence, experts say.


But warning signs "only become crystal clear in the aftermath, said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminology professor who has studied and written about mass killings.


"They're yellow flags. They only become red flags once the blood is spilled," he said.


Whether 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who used his mother's guns to kill her and then 20 children and six adults at their Connecticut school, made any hints about his plans isn't publicly known.


Fox said that sometimes, in the days, weeks or months preceding their crimes, mass murderers voice threats, or hints, either verbally or in writing, things like "'don't come to school tomorrow,'" or "'they're going to be sorry for mistreating me.'" Some prepare by target practicing, and plan their clothing "as well as their arsenal." (Police said Lanza went to shooting ranges with his mother in the past but not in the last six months.)


Although words might indicate a grudge, they don't necessarily mean violence will follow. And, of course, most who threaten never act, Fox said.


Even so, experts say threats of violence from troubled teens and young adults should be taken seriously and parents should attempt to get them a mental health evaluation and treatment if needed.


"In general, the police are unlikely to be able to do anything unless and until a crime has been committed," said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a Columbia University professor of psychiatry, medicine and law. "Calling the police to confront a troubled teen has often led to tragedy."


The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry says violent behavior should not be dismissed as "just a phase they're going through."


In a guidelines for families, the academy lists several risk factors for violence, including:


—Previous violent or aggressive behavior


—Being a victim of physical or sexual abuse


—Guns in the home


—Use of drugs or alcohol


—Brain damage from a head injury


Those with several of these risk factors should be evaluated by a mental health expert if they also show certain behaviors, including intense anger, frequent temper outbursts, extreme irritability or impulsiveness, the academy says. They may be more likely than others to become violent, although that doesn't mean they're at risk for the kind of violence that happened in Newtown, Conn.


Lanza, the Connecticut shooter, was socially withdrawn and awkward, and has been said to have had Asperger's disorder, a mild form of autism that has no clear connection with violence.


Autism experts and advocacy groups have complained that Asperger's is being unfairly blamed for the shootings, and say people with the disorder are much more likely to be victims of bullying and violence by others.


According to a research review published this year in Annals of General Psychiatry, most people with Asperger's who commit violent crimes have serious, often undiagnosed mental problems. That includes bipolar disorder, depression and personality disorders. It's not publicly known if Lanza had any of these, which in severe cases can include delusions and other psychotic symptoms.


Young adulthood is when psychotic illnesses typically emerge, and Appelbaum said there are several signs that a troubled teen or young adult might be heading in that direction: isolating themselves from friends and peers, spending long periods alone in their rooms, plummeting grades if they're still in school and expressing disturbing thoughts or fears that others are trying to hurt them.


Appelbaum said the most agonizing calls he gets are from parents whose children are descending into severe mental illness but who deny they are sick and refuse to go for treatment.


And in the case of adults, forcing them into treatment is difficult and dependent on laws that vary by state.


All states have laws that allow some form of court-ordered treatment, typically in a hospital for people considered a danger to themselves or others. Connecticut is among a handful with no option for court-ordered treatment in a less restrictive community setting, said Kristina Ragosta, an attorney with the Treatment Advocacy Center, a national group that advocates better access to mental health treatment.


Lanza's medical records haven't been publicly disclosed and authorities haven't said if it is known what type of treatment his family may have sought for him. Lanza killed himself at the school.


Jennifer Hoff of Mission Viejo, Calif. has a 19-year-old bipolar son who has had hallucinations, delusions and violent behavior for years. When he was younger and threatened to harm himself, she'd call 911 and leave the door unlocked for paramedics, who'd take him to a hospital for inpatient mental care.


Now that he's an adult, she said he has refused medication, left home, and authorities have indicated he can't be forced into treatment unless he harms himself — or commits a violent crime and is imprisoned. Hoff thinks prison is where he's headed — he's in jail, charged in an unarmed bank robbery.


___


Online:


American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: http://www.aacap.org


___


AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner


Read More..

Get 'em While You Can? Gun Sales Soar













The National Rifle Association may still get its way and defeat the lawmakers calling for a ban on the sale of assault ridles, but some gun store owners say it seems their customers aren't taking any chances.


"We have never seen anything like this," said Larry Hyatt, who owns a gun shop in Charlotte, N.C. "We have the Christmas business, the hunting season business, and now we have the political business.


"We have seen a lot of things, but we have never seen anything like this, this is probably four times bigger than the last time we saw a big rush," he said.


Some of the customers in his store said it is the talk of stricter gun control in the wake of the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that is driving the rush.


"The way they are trying to approach it, they are just making people who have never thought about buying a gun, now they want to come in here and buy a gun," one customer said.


At NOVA Firearms in Falls Church, Va., there have been "skyrocketing" sales following the Newtown shooting, chief firearms instructor Chuck Nesby said.


"They've been off the charts. Absolutely skyrocketing," Nesby said. "If I could give an award to President Obama and Senator Feinstein would be sales persons of the year."


He was referring to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who said she will introduce an assault weapons ban in January.


Sales are up 400 percent, he said.


"We're completely out of the so-called assault weapons, semi automatic firearms that are rifles," Nesby said. "Forty percent of those sales went to women and senior citizens. We can't get them now. Everybody, nationwide is out of them the sales have just been off the charts nationwide."










National Rifle Association News Conference Interrupted by Protesters Watch Video







The horrific shooting, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza broke in to the elementary school and killed 20 children and six adults with a semi-automatic rifle, has even some former NRA supporters saying it's time to change the rules on assault weapons.


Those guns were banned from 1994 until 2004, when the ban expired and was not renewed.


Now it's not just lawmakers who have traditionally advocated stricter gun control talking about the need to act.


Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas suggested today on CBS' "Face the Nation" that new regulation should be considered.


"We ought to be looking at where the real danger is, like those large clips, I think that does need to be looked at," Hutchison said. "It's the semi-automatics and those large magazines that can be fired off very quickly. You do have to pull the trigger each time, but it's very quick."


Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat but a long-time opponent of gun control who like Hutchison has received an A rating from the NRA, has also come out in support of strengthening gun laws.


NRA chief Wayne LaPierre said Friday that more gun control is not the way to stop such shooting from happening again: the answer is more guns, in the form of armed guards in every school.


After being criticized for two days for the proposal, LaPierre today stuck by his guns.


"If it's crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."


"When that horrible monster tried to shoot his way into Sandy Hook school, that if a good guy with a gun had been there, he might have been able to stop [it]," LaPierre said.


LaPierre and the NRA said that the media, the entertainment culture and lack of proper mental health care are to blame, not the proliferation of guns in the United States.


Asa Hutchinson, the former congressman who will lead the effort by the NRA to place armed security guards in schools across the country, said today on "This Week" that gun control efforts would not be part of the "ultimate solution" to gun violence.






Read More..

Israel says Syria chemical weapons are secure for now


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Syria's chemical weapons are still secure despite the fact that President Bashar al-Assad has lost control of parts of the country, a senior Israeli defense official said on Sunday.


Amos Gilad told Army Radio that the civil war between Assad and opposition forces fighting to topple him had become deadlocked, but that the Syrian leader showed no signs of heeding international calls to step down.


"Suppose he (Assad) does leave, there could be chaos ... in the Middle East you never know who will come instead. We need to stay level-headed; the entire world is dealing with this. At the moment, chemical weapons are under control," Gilad said.


As Syria's southern neighbor, Israel has been concerned about chemical weapons falling into the hands of Islamist militants or Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, warning it could intervene to stop such developments.


Western countries said three weeks ago that Assad's government might be preparing to use poison gas to repel rebel fighters who are encamped around Damascus, the capital, and who control rural Aleppo and Idlib in the north.


"The opposition is not managing to defeat him and he is not defeating the opposition, though more and more parts of Syria are no longer under his control and that is what matters," Gilad said.


The rebels - mainly Sunni Muslims - are pushing southwards from their northern strongholds into the central province of Hama.


But Assad, who is from the Alawite minority linked to Shi'ite Islam, has responded with artillery, air strikes and, according to NATO, with Scud-type missiles.


Western powers and some Arab countries have called for Assad to step down, but Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that international efforts to persuade Assad to quit would fail.


Lavrov said Russia had rejected requests from countries in the region to pressure Assad to go or to offer him safe haven. If Assad did exit the political scene, it could lead to an upsurge in the fighting that activists say has killed 44,000 people since the uprising began in March 2011, Lavrov said.


(Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Andrew Osborn)



Read More..

More S'poreans fall prey to phone scams






SINGAPORE: More Singaporeans fell prey to lucky draw phone scams in the first eight months of the year.

Police said there were 234 reported cases in the period, of which 134 victims were cheated of their money.

Between January and August last year, there were 201 reported cases of lucky draw phone scams and 123 victims who were cheated.

The amount of money cheated from victims went up by 21 per cent to S$4.6 million, compared to S$3.8 million in the same period last year.

Police said victims include professionals, youths and senior citizens.

Tricksters would typically call their victims and inform them that they have won a prize in a lucky draw overseas.

In order to redeem the prize, which could be a luxury car or air tickets, the victim will have to pay a processing fee or tax upfront.

After receiving the first payment via bank transfers, the tricksters would ask for subsequent payments.

The victim usually realises he or she has been cheated when the culprit becomes uncontactable.

Police advised the public to call 999 immediately if they receive a lucky draw phone scam call.

The public should not make any advance payment to claim any prize.

- CNA/xq



Read More..