Singaporean victims lose $36 mln in online investment scams

Singapore's police have reported that victims lost at least $36 million in less than two months to conmen touting investment scams on chat groups and social media platforms.

A total of 897 cases of investment scams reported since July. Victims were added into chat groups on platforms such as Telegram, and the scammers pretended to be famous people or reputable companies, reported The Straits Times.

Unidentified people in the chat group would then claim to have profited from their investments, and shared screenshots of their profits, in an attempt to make victims believe that the investments were authentic and profitable.

After the victims contacted the scammers, they were offered a raft of investment plans, and were asked to provide their personal details like their bank account number, name and phone number, and transfer money to specified bank and PayNow accounts.

According to the police, scammers also contacted 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 would talk to them about investment opportunities. Those who were interested would then follow the instruction of scammers to transfer money to specified bank or PayNow accounts.

The victims were led to believe that the investment was genuine because they would get profits at first, and the fake investment websites or apps would show growing profits – resulting in investments of larger amounts from victims.

Victims would realise they got scammed only when they found out that they were unable to withdraw their profits, despite having transferred large sums of money, said the police.

To avoid being a victim of scams, the police urged social media users add or set up security features, such as disallowing unknown users from adding you into chat groups, set transaction limits for internet banking transactions and enable two-factor authentication. It should be noted that no legitimate investment company will add you into a group chat to sell an investment opportunity.

People should verify the authenticity of information by asking as many questions as possible to understand the investment opportunities, and verify the company’s reputation. They are also advised to report fraudulent transactions to their bank immediately.