S’pore Victims Lose Over S$15M To ‘Fake Friends’ Using Unknown Numbers To Request Money

‘Fake Friends’ Scam Cheats S’pore Victims Of Over S$15M

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) warned of a ‘fake friend’ scam that had tricked around 4,800 people.

Their losses totalled over S$15.7 million since January this year.

Scammers would contact victims through unknown numbers pretending to be their friends. They would later request financial aid.

The SPF advised the public to perform verification measures or risk losing their money.

Singaporeans to look out for fake friend scam

According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), the SPF released a statement addressing the fake friend scams on Wednesday (30 Aug).

Around 4,800 people have lost a total of $15.7 million since Jan 2023.

The scammers contacted their victims through unknown numbers, which may or may not have the +65 prefix.

The scammer would then tell the victim that they were a friend and ask them to guess their real identity.

If the victim fell for their trap and named one of their friends, the scammers would impersonate them.

They would subsequently ask the victim to update the contact details of their actual friend to the imposter’s number.

MS News had reported about one such scam back in Jan 2023.

Imposters ask to borrow money from victims

After this, the scammers would contact the victims claiming financial difficulties and an inability to perform banking transactions.

They would then plead for a loan to be transferred to a local bank account provided to the victim, which they promised to pay back.

After the completed transaction, however, the scammers would vanish with the stolen amounts.

Victims only realised they had been scammed after contacting the actual impersonated friend or when the loans were not returned.

Measures to avoid the scams

The police advised the public to adopt several precautionary measures against the fake friend scam:

• Enable two-factor authentication for bank, social media, and Singpass accounts
• Download the ScamShield app and check for scam signs using sources like the ScamAlert website
• Set transaction limits on internet banking transactions
• Check with the impersonated friends or loved ones through other means for verification
• Inform your family and friends about scams
• Report scam numbers to WhatsApp and fraudulent transactions to your bank

“If you have any information relating to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online,” the police urged.

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Featured image adapted from Adem AY on Unsplash for illustration purposes only.