SPF: S$6.5 Million Lost To Job Scams in First Half of 2021

By
Shawn Ambrose
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While you and are hard at work at home, with a McSpicy in one hand and a phone with the Netflix tab opened in the other, scammers spend most of their day thinking about how to swindle people.

Should I tell them I’m a bank employee? Maybe a safe distancing ambassador? I have no badge though…

Though they were already working from home before the pandemic, scammers have really upped their game in the last year or so, as more and more people are telecommuting.

The latest swindle, one that has consistently been deceiving people into handing over their money, is yet another job scam.

SPF: S$6.5 Million Lost To Job Scams in First Half of 2021

Job scams are stripping people of their money left, right, and centre, with more and more people falling prey to fraudsters.

Scammers are undoubtedly taking advantage of a pandemic that has left many on no-pay leave and even more jobless.

If you don’t want to become their latest victim, you should familiarise yourself with their modus operandi. 

These job scams have been carried out in two ways.

The First Way

In the first, victims are promised compensation for completing a series of tasks. Before that, they are instructed to download an app.

But – and this is the part where alarm bells should go off in your head – victims are told they have to top up funds before they can use the app.

They can either do this via bank transfer or through cryptocurrency.

To convince victims, scammers would also reflect the amount transferred in the victims’ digital wallets.

The commission they would earn from these tasks would then be deposited in their digital wallets as well.

The victims only realised they had been scammed when they couldn’t withdraw their money from their accounts.

The Second Way

In the second scam, also called the WhatsApp scam, victims would receive warning letters saying they had to pay a severance fee if they decided not to continue with the jobs offered by the scammers.

Of course, there was no job in the first place, and the warning letter was fake.

Still, with the scammer threatening to freeze victims’ accounts on the app, which would prevent them from withdrawing their commissions, victims were compelled to give in to their requests.

The fraudsters also threatened the victim with legal action if they decided not to continue with their fake job.

To make the warning letter look legitimate, scammers would also add emblems of legitimacy, such as those which identify the Singapore Police Force or even the Supreme Court.

It was only after they failed to receive their commission that the victims realised they had been duped.

In just the first half of 2021, victims have lost at least $6.5 million to job scams. One particularly unlucky victim lost $676,000.

Too Good to be True

Remember, if a job offer is too good to be true, it probably is.

Any request from a stranger to transfer money into bank accounts or digital wallets should be met with furrowed eyebrows and a boatload of suspicion.

Remember, no matter what tricks these fraudsters come up with, they’ll eventually have to ask you for money or personal information, and that’s when you cut contact with them.

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Feature Image: Minerva Studio/ Shutterstock.com

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]