At least $983,000 lost since January to lucky draw scams that demand fees to release ‘winnings’
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In such scams, which included a Malaysian influencer (right) being impersonated, victims would be lured into making payment for various “fees” to claim their “winnings”.
- Victims in Singapore lost at least $983,000 in 254 lucky draw scam cases since January, involving fake fees to claim non-existent prizes.
- Scammers impersonate influencers and banks, using WhatsApp and Facebook live streams to trick victims into paying fake charges.
- Police advise public to avoid unknown transfers, use ScamShield app, set banking limits, and report fraud immediately to banks.
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SINGAPORE - Scam victims have lost at least $983,000 since January in lucky draw ruses that lure them into making payments to claim their “winnings”, with at least 254 cases reported.
In an advisory on July 31, the police said scammers would deceive victims into making payment for various “fees” to claim their winnings from participating in quizzes or live-stream scratch card or lottery promotions.
In one variant of this ruse, scammers would impersonate a popular Malaysian influencer and invite the public, via Facebook posts or short-form videos, to take part in a quiz with the promise of a cash prize.
Victims would then be asked to contact the “influencer” via WhatsApp or to provide their contact details. They would then be informed that they had won the prize and asked to pay fake processing fees, administrative fees or other fabricated charges.
In some cases, a second scammer, pretending to be from banking group Maybank, would contact the victim and ask for additional transfers under the guise that the money was stuck or an activation fee was required.
Victims would realise they had been scammed only after failing to receive the promised winnings or when alerted by their loved ones.
In another variant of this scam, victims would come across Facebook live-streams that promoted scratch cards or lottery tickets, often linked to “China lottery” draws and operated under Chinese usernames.
Those who fell prey to these bogus lottery draws would be told they had won a large cash prize and be asked to pay “administrative fees” via PayNow to an account on peer-to-peer payment platform LiquidPay to release the winnings.
In these cases, victims would realise they have been scammed only when they did not receive their winnings, when the Facebook account linked to the live-streams could no longer be found, or when the scammers became uncontactable.
“Members of the public are strongly advised not to transfer funds to any unknown persons whose identities you have not verified,” said the police.
Scams in Singapore have cost victims more than $4 billion since 2019. In 2025, $913.1 million was lost across 37,308 cases.
For more information on scams, call the ScamShield Helpline on 1799 or visit scamshield.gov.sg
