Okay, to be fair, this scam isn’t that new.
It surfaced since Dec 2019, according to the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
It Starts With A WhatsApp Message
SPF has received at least 18 reports regarding the new scam.
The victim will first receive a WhatsApp message from a friend.
He or she will be requested to send over a six-digit verification code, and once sent, the victim will lose access to their WhatsApp account.
But that’s not the worst thing that could happen.
Posing As Friends To Ask For Personal Details
Scammers could also ask for the victim’s contact number or photos of their credit or debit card.
The scammers usually say that they’ll help the victim to sign up for a fake lucky draw or contest.
These fake lucky draws are usually conducted by Qoo10, Shopee or Lazada.
Once shared, these scammers will ask for your One-Time-Pin (OTP).
And you know what happens once that’s shared, right?
The money in your account will disappear from your account like how the food on the table disappears in front of my boss.
And it’s not just WhatsApp. Similar scams are happening on Facebook and Instagram.
Lady Lost $18K To Similar WhatsApp Scam
On 13 Jan 2020, a Singaporean woman lost $18,000 to a similar scam.
She was contacted by a “friend”, convinced to sign up for Lazada “special” vouchers and witnessed her money flowing out of her account.
She tried to get her bank to stop the transactions, but couldn’t as they were verified with the correct OTPs.
You can read her full (sad) story here.
Meanwhile, our friendly men and women in blue have this to say to you:
a) Do not share your account verification codes with anyone;
b) Beware of unusual requests received over WhatsApp, even if they were sent by your WhatsApp contacts;
c) Always call your friend to verify the authenticity of the request, but do not do so through the social media platform as the account might have been taken over by scammers, and
d) Protect your WhatsApp account by enabling the ‘Two-Step Verification’ feature, which is available under ‘Account’ in the ‘Settings’ tab of your WhatsApp application. This will prevent others from compromising your WhatsApp account;
e) In the event that your WhatsApp account has been taken over by a scammer, you can recover the account by signing into your WhatsApp using your phone number and authenticate by entering the verification PIN which you will receive on your phone. The scammer which is using your account will automatically be logged out thereafter.
If you wish to provide any information related to such scams, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.
And on a final note, we only have one rule pertaining to scams: if it’s too good to be true, it usually is.
After that is: Better to be safe than sorry.
Check out some videos we’ve done in collaboration with SPF on how to protect yourself against various scams here:
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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