Stop Scams Podcast: How scammers are buying bank accounts of youth for misuse

In this podcast episode, find out more about new scam variants in 2022, and why youth and their parents need to be aware of scammers' promise of "easy money". ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

(From left) Superintendent of Police Michelle Tay, who is the head of the Anti-Scam Centre, with Straits Times’ deputy news editor Andre Yeo, podcast producer Teo Tong Kai and journalist Jessie Lim. ST PHOTO: ERNEST LUIS

Updated

Published

Mar 30, 2022, 06:00 PM

Synopsis: This is a new podcast by The Straits Times to raise greater public awareness of the modern scourge of scams in Singapore and globally.

In Singapore, nearly $1 billion has been lost by scam victims since 2016. Mutating and spreading, different types of scams have infiltrated every aspect of our lives, from love to work. The police are cracking down on offenders. What can you do to protect yourself?

In this episode, ST's deputy news editor Andre Yeo and journalist Jessie Lim speak with Superintendent of Police Michelle Tay, the head of the Anti-Scam Centre, launched in 2019. Their job is to disrupt the scammers’ operations and help victims to try to recover their money.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:15 Step-by-step guide: What to do if you're a scam victim, and what the police do when liaising with banks and fintech institutions

4:10 Why is it so hard to recover scam victims' monies once the funds are transferred out of Singapore?

5:15 What is the Community Watch Scheme and the new e-commerce Transaction Safety rating?

7:00 What are the new scam tactics emerging in 2022? More on the pig-butchering scam which combines tactics used in love and investment scams

9:33 How scammers are targeting youths, offering up to $2,000 to buy their digital identity credentials, and why this is an offence for teenagers involved

9:56 When Supt Tay’s mother received a scam call claiming she had been kidnapped

Listen to Ep 1 - Near impossible to recover your money once scammers transfer it out of Singapore: https://str.sg/wuZB

Public can join these police schemes:

Community Watch Scheme: https://go.gov.sg/spf-cws

Crime Prevention Ambassadors: https://www.ncpc.org.sg/cpas.html

Citizens on Patrol: https://go.gov.sg/citizensonpatrol

ST's Stop Scams articles: https://str.sg/wWt9

• Anti-Scam Hotline: 1800-722-6688 (9am - 5pm); https://www.scamalert.sg/

• National Care Hotline: 1800-202-6868 (8am - 12am); https://ccs.org.sg/nch/

Produced by: Andre Yeo (andrey@sph.com.sg), Jessie Lim (ljessie@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis and Teo Tong Kai

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai

Follow ST's Stop Scams podcast series here: