Police working with Meta to remove WhatsApp lines believed to be used in scams

SINGAPORE: The authorities are collaborating with social media platform Meta to delete WhatsApp lines that are thought to be used for scams as well as untrustworthy virtual monikers and advertisements.

A new wave of Android malware scams has claimed the lives of its victims, many of which involve adverts on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram promoting goods and services.

Officers responded to CNA’s questions on Tuesday, October 10, saying that con artists are” becoming increasingly sophisticated and are continuously evolving their approaches to feed on victims’ risks.”

Through eye-catching advertisements on food products, services, and the price of travel packages on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, they frequently try to entice users with alluring offers and promotions.

Police reported last month that victims of scams claimed South$ 3344.5 million( US$ 244.8 million ) in the first half of the time. While that was a 2.2 % decrease from the same time next year, the number of fraud cases rose by 64.5 %.

They continued by saying that more than half of the cases & nbsp, or 55 %, resulted in losses less than or equal to S$ 2, 000.

More than half of all patients were younger adults between the ages of 20 and 39, who were most likely to be defrauded. They were primarily victims of e-commerce scams, career fraud, and spoofing fraud.

The top five ways that con artists used to contact victims were via communications services like WhatsApp and Telegram, social internet, phone calls, online shopping sites, and SMSes.

In the first six months of the year, & nbsp, more than 750 instances of Android device users falling victim to malware scams were reported, with a total loss of at least S$ 10 million.

As least S$ 218, 000 in CPF benefits were included in this. But, the police’s Anti-Scam Command was able to recover some of the CPF funds, bringing the total loss down to about S$ 130,000.