Friday, 23 December 2011
Alert on Unauthorized Business Activities and Impersonation
of SCDF Officer
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has received a
number of complaints about companies claiming to be endorsed by the
SCDF to sell fire extinguishers and/or conduct fire safety talks to
the public. In some of these instances, the company personnel
had shown the SCDF Emergency Handbook to give the impression that
they are representing the SCDF. Furthermore, aggressive,
‘hard-sell’ techniques were adopted by them to get members of
public in purchasing their products, fire insurance or signing up
for their fire safety talks and training seminars. In a
recent case, a member of public claimed that a woman had
impersonated as a SCDF officer and tried to sell a fire
extinguisher to his father. The complainant also claimed that
the impersonator had mentioned that SCDF would provide $30,000
worth of fire insurance to them if they were to buy the
extinguisher.
SCDF would like to inform members of the public that
our officers are not involved in any direct sales of fire
extinguishers and we have not authorized any company to conduct
such activities. It is also a standard procedure for all
uniformed regular staff of SCDF to display their warrant card when
on duty. In addition, Full-time National Servicemen are
issued with the NS identity Card. Both these cards bear the
name, NRIC number and photograph of the card holder. When
approached by anyone claiming to be SCDF personnel on official
duties or as an authorized representative, the public are advised
to request for their warrant card, NS Identity Card or letter of
authorization, as proof of authentication. A sample of the warrant
card and NS Identity Card are shown below.
The public should note that knowledge on fire safety
and Community Emergency Preparedness Programmes (CEPP) are provided
free of charge at all SCDF Division Headquarters. For more details
on CEPP, the public can visit our SCDF website at
http://www.scdf.gov.sg/scdf_internet/en/community-and-volunteers/community-preparedness/community-programmes/cepp.html.
A list of companies certified by TÜV SÜD PSB Singapore
(previously known as PSB Corporation) for the servicing and
maintenance of fire extinguishers is available on the SCDF and NFEC
websites at the following links:
a)
http://www.scdf.gov.sg/scdf_internet/en/building-professionals/downloads.html
b) http://www.nfec.gov.sg/prods_fire_safety_equip.html
Members of public can also contact SCDF general
enquiries (1800-286-5555) if they encounter suspicious person(s)
claiming to be representing SCDF or conducting unauthorized
activities on its behalf. For cases involving the
impersonation of SCDF officer, members of public are advised to
lodge a police report.
In addition, individuals who wish to file a complaint against
such companies can call CASE’s hotline (6-1000-315) for
assistance. They can also file an online complaint via CASE’s
website at the following link (http://www.case.org.sg/online_complaint.html)
or walk in to CASE’s office located at Ghim Moh.
http://www.scdf.gov.sg/content/scdf_internet/en/general/news/news_releases/2011/alert_on_unauthorizedbusinessactivitiesandimpersonationofscdfoff.html