Those cheated include lawyers, professors, senior civil servants

Anyone can fall victim to a scam, regardless of how well educated or digitally savvy they are.

Recalling how a lawyer almost lost $521,000 in a loan scam, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police Aileen Yap, assistant director of the Singapore Police Force's Anti-Scam Command, noted that senior civil servants and professors have also become scam victims.

In the case of the lawyer, he had searched the Ministry of Law's website, and after doing due diligence, he identified a licensed moneylender he wanted to borrow $3 million from.

While the licensed moneylender was real, it did not have a website. So instead, the lawyer found himself taking a loan from a scammer who was impersonating the firm, said DAC Yap at The Straits Times' Stop Scams webinar yesterday.

She added: "The scammer... told him, you have to pay administrative fees, service charges and deposits. And he paid, $521,000, but did not get his loan."

Fortunately, the lawyer realised his mistake in time and contacted the Anti-Scam Centre, which helped him recover $426,000.

Dr Majeed Khader, chief psychologist at the Ministry of Home Affairs, said: "Very clever people, well-educated people can fall prey as well.

"Sometimes, it's that moment of impulsivity, so that's why this message of stop and think, look for the signs of a scam, is very important."

Even young people, who have grown up accustomed to technology, have not avoided being cheated in scams.

Said Mr Xavier Low, chief executive of the Cyber Youth Academy: "It's a misconception... Youths, we use the Internet more than any other age group. When we grow up with technology, there is a certain amount of complacency."

He added that scammers have become more sophisticated, citing how phishing messages appear in the same thread as legitimate ones from a company.

Said Mr Low: "There are certain things that you realise, such as how the link is shortened, and there are grammatical errors. But scammers get smarter every day. One day, maybe they will fix their grammar. It will become harder and harder to spot these scams."