SINGAPORE: About 4,800 people have fallen victim to a persistent “fake friend” scam since January this year, with their losses amounting to at least S$15.7 million (US$11.6 million), the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said on Wednesday (Aug 30).
The scam variant involves scammers contacting victims while pretending to be people that they know, and thereafter asking for financial assistance, SPF said in an advisory.
These scammers contact their victims through text messages, or via phone and WhatsApp calls from unknown numbers which may or may not have the +65 prefix.
“The scammer would claim to be a friend or acquaintance and ask the victims to guess his or her real identity,” SPF said.
“In response, the victims would then provide the name of a friend whom they believed the caller could be.
“The scammer would then assume the identity of the said friend and ask the victims to update their contact details.”
Scammers would subsequently contact victims to ask for loans and would claim that they were unable to perform banking transactions or were experiencing financial difficulties.
“Victims would then be provided with a local bank account to transfer the money,” SPF said.
“Victims would only discover that they had been scammed after contacting their actual friends or acquaintances whom the scammers had impersonated, or when their loan was not returned as promised.”
The police advised members of the public to adopt the following precautionary measures to avoid falling victim to the scam:
- Download the ScamShield app and set security features such as two-factor authentication or multifactor authentication for bank, social media and Singpass accounts
- Set transaction limits on internet banking transactions, including for PayNow
- Check for scam signs with official sources such as the ScamShield WhatsApp bot, the Anti-Scam Helpline or the ScamAlert website
- Verify whether requests are legitimate by checking with family members, friends and acquaintances through alternative means such as physical meet-ups, video calls or email
- Tell authorities, family members and friends about scams
- Report the phone numbers of scammers to WhatsApp to initiate in-app blocking
“If you have any information relating to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the police hotline at 1800 255 0000, or submit it online,” SPF said, adding that all information will be kept strictly confidential.
Those who require urgent police assistance should dial 999.