SINGAPORE: Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim’s staff have lodged two police reports over scammers impersonating him and offering investment tips on various group chats in WhatsApp and Telegram.
The police verified on Thursday (Aug 11) that two reports were produced – the first on June 20 and another on August 2 .
Lim’s spokesman provided screenshots of the chats, by which someone impersonating the businessman said within messages in both English and Mandarin: “I am confident which i will lead you to acquire 1 million SGD within half annually… ”
The messages, which used Lim’s name and picture, also guaranteed people a successful end result if they followed the instructions provided plus offered stock trading classes to them.
Lim, 69, has a net worth of US$2. 4bil (RM10. 65bil or S$3. 3bil), according to Forbes . This individual does not have any social networking accounts.
This is not the first time his name and photo have been misused. Law enforcement reports were also made in 2016 plus 2017 over similar ruses .
The particular spokesman said Lim is very concerned about the particular fake messages when he does not want anyone to fall victim to any scam.
A year ago alone, victims in Singapore lost at least S$633. 3mil (RM2. 05bil) to scams, the police said earlier this year.
The authorities said at least 90% of scams in Singapore originate from overseas, and described the scammers as syndicated, well resourced and technologically sophisticated.
Investment scams accounted for the most amount of money taken, with 46, 196 cases reported and victims losing S$190. 9mil (RM618. 83mil) in total. The largest amount taken in a single situation was S$6. 4mil (RM20. 74mil).
In May this year, at least 587 people documented losing S$2. 7mil (RM8. 75mil) within phishing scams involving scammers since the start of the year. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network