On Wednesday (21 Oct), the Singapore Police Force (SPF) released an advisory for people to remain vigilant regarding a recent spread of social media impersonation scams.
In particular, a variation has emerged in which scammers would steal the identities of WhatsApp account owners and solicit loans or financial assistance from other users.
SPF stated that since September, at least 128 cases have been reported. The total losses from the incidents amounted to at least S$249,000.
In a typical case, the victim first receives a WhatsApp message from a scammer, posing as a friend, family member, or colleague.
The scammer would request a loan or ask the victim to transfer monies on their behalf.
Possible reasons include technical difficulties during the bank transfer process, having reached their maximum transfer limit, or needing assistance to make payments on their behalf.
Past victims have also reported receiving messages purportedly from their children, who asked them to transfer payment for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) or exchange program.
In the advisory, SPF included several screenshots of past cases.
Source: SPF
SPF reiterated that the general public should always be wary of any requests to transfer money online, regardless of who was making the request.
If ever in doubt, the safest thing to do is to verify with the ScamShield Helpline at 1799, which is available 24/7.
Alternatively, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg for more information on scams.
They highlighted some key precautionary measures to avoid falling victim to similar scams in the future.
SPF encouraged people to download the ScamShield app to block scam calls and filter suspicious Short Message Services (SMSes).
Members of the public can also use the ScamShield Helpline to check for scam signs. Instead of immediately acting on the request, they should directly verify any unusual requests for transferring money with their family, friends or colleagues.
In the event that one suspects they are part of a scam, they can contact their bank to report and block any fraudulent transactions, as well as file a police report.
For their security, the public are also advised to enable two-step verification on their WhatsApp accounts as added protection. They should also remove unnecessary or unknown devices linked to their account.
A more detailed guide on how to safeguard WhatsApp accounts can be found on the WhatsApp Help Centre.
Source: Dave Taylor
SPF said such measures can create a collectively positive impact in reducing the number of online scams.
Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to keep our community safe.
Also read: S’pore man warns others about ‘Booking.com’ WhatsApp scam after almost falling for it
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Featured image adapted from Ang Mo Kio Thye Hua Kwan Hospital (left) and Alexandr Kozlenko via Pexels (right).