There were 897 cases of investment scams reported in Singapore since July. — The Straits Times/ANN
SINGAPORE: Victims lost at least S$36mil (RM120.63mil) in less than two months to conmen touting investment scams on chat groups and social media platforms, police said.
In a statement on Aug 14, the police said there were 897 cases of investment scams reported since July, in which victims were lured into parting with money to channel into investments, which then turned out to be scams.
Recently, scammers used two methods. The first involved adding victims into chat groups or communication channels. The second method involved befriending the victims on social media platforms.
In the first method, victims were added into chat groups on platforms such as Telegram, and the scammers pretended to be famous people or reputable companies, said the police.
Unidentified people in the chat group will then claim to have profited from their investments, and shared screenshots of their profits, in an attempt to make victims believe that the investment is authentic and profitable.
If the victims contact the scammers, they will be offered a raft of investment plans, and be asked to provide their personal details like their bank account number, name, and phone number, and transfer money to specified bank and PayNow accounts.
Fake investment websites or applications to display fake profits are also sometimes used, to make the scam look more believable, the police added.
The second method involves scammers contacting victims through social media platforms like Facebook or WhatsApp, or dating applications like Coffee Meets Bagel.
After building rapport and gaining the trust of victims, scammers will talk to them about investment opportunities – which then leads to them following the instruction of scammers to transfer money to specified bank or PayNow accounts.
The victims will be led to believe that the investment is genuine because they will get profits at first, and the fake investment websites or apps will show growing profits – leading them to invest larger amounts of money.
In both scenarios, victims will realise they got scammed only when they find out that they are unable to withdraw their profits, despite have transferred large sums of money.
The scammers also later become uncontactable, said police.
To avoid being a victim of scams, the police urged members of the public to adopt the following measures:
- Add – Set security features, such as by disallowing unknown users from adding you into chatgroups; set up transaction limits for internet banking transactions; and enable two-factor authentication.
- Check – No legitimate investment company would add you into a group chat to sell an investment opportunity. Verify the authenticity of information by asking as many questions as needed to understand the investment opportunities, checking on the company; its’ owners, directors, and management to assess if the investment opportunities are genuine, and confirm the company’s and representatives’ credentials by using available resources such as the Financial Institutions Directory.
- Tell – Let the authorities, family and friends know about scams. Report any fraudulent transactions to your bank immediately.
Those who have information about such scams or have doubts should contact the police. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network
