At least $622,000 lost to phishing scams since November: Police
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Victims would realise they had been scammed only when they found unauthorised transactions on their bank cards.
PHOTO: ST FILE PHOTO
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SINGAPORE - At least $622,000 has been lost to phishing scams involving fake buyers on online platforms in the past two months.
In a statement on Dec 29, the police said there have been at least 223 cases of such scams reported since Nov 1. They urged members of the public to remain vigilant.
Scam victims who had listed items for sale on online platforms were approached by scammers who posed as interested buyers, police said.
The scammers would then send a phishing link to the victims under the guise of arranging for payment or delivery of the items.
After clicking on the link, the victims would be prompted to key in their personal information, such as banking credentials and card details.
The victims would realise they had been scammed only when they found unauthorised transactions on their bank cards, including transfers to overseas cryptocurrency service providers such as Binance, BTCC and ByBit.
After clicking on the link, the victims would be prompted to key in their personal information, said the police.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
In their statement, the police encouraged members of the public to exercise extra caution when selling items on online platforms, especially if prompted by the buyers to provide banking credentials or card details through suspicious links.
They should not provide their banking details, card details or any other confidential information to unknown people, police added.
Sellers who list items for sale online are also strongly encouraged to meet the buyers in person to complete the transaction.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg
