Police warns public of increase in technical support impersonation scams
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) noticed a surge in technical support scam cases involving the impersonation of Microsoft and Crypto.com accounts.
Since May 2026, the police have received at least 30 reports, with losses amounting to at least S$1 million.
These scams follow a similar pattern, where scammers exploit eight-digit telephone numbers beginning with the digit ‘3’.
Source: Pexels, for illustration purposes only.
‘Technical support’ scams have the same modus operandi
In a statement on 2 July, the police said scammers will first make initial contact with the victim either via a pop-up alert or an unsolicited call.
This will prompt a victim to call or respond to a “technical support” number that starts with “3”.
When the call transfers to a “technical support officer”, the “officer” may allege that the victim is involved in illegal activities such as money laundering.
Under the pretext of assisting a police investigation, victims are instructed to download applications to their device.
Once completed, the scammers gain control of the victim’s bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallet, allowing them to make unauthorised transactions.
When the victims realise what happened, the scammers are no longer contactable.
Never disclose any confidential information to anyone
“Cryptocurrency transfers are non-reversible. Once the transfers are effected by the victim, it is highly challenging to recover the assets,” the police said.
They also remind cryptocurrency users to “never disclose seed phrases, wallet passphrases, private keys or any authentication codes to any persons”.
Users should verify the authenticity of alerts through official channels.
If one encounters suspicious pop-up alerts, they should refrain from calling any numbers displayed or avoid clicking links or buttons in the alert.
If the pop-up cannot be closed, users can use Task Manager in the Windows settings to close the browser manually.
Source: Pexels, for illustration purposes only.
What to do if you’ve fallen into their trap
The police advise victims of scams to disconnect the devices or remove any applications to prevent further unauthorised access.
Users should also perform a full anti-virus scan to delete any existing malware.
For bank accounts, immediately contact the bank to halt unauthorised transactions and remove unknown payees added to the account.
For cryptocurrency wallets or platforms, halt or freeze the account to stop further activities.
If the wallet’s seed phrase is compromised, users should transfer all remaining cryptocurrencies to a separate wallet immediately.
Victims can also report suspicious phishing websites to authorities through CSA’s SingCERT at singcert@csa.gov.sg.
Also read: SPF advises cryptocurrency users to beware of World Cup-related scams
SPF advises cryptocurrency users to beware of World Cup-related scams
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Featured image adapted from Angela Bena on Pexels and Kaboompics.com on Pexels, for illustration purposes only.
