There’s a New Telegram Scam in S’pore Where People Pay Delivery Fee For Items That Never Arrived

Scams, scams, and more scams.

It seems like one cannot help but be extremely cautious nowadays, especially when it comes to purchasing something online.

For some, being “greedy” for a good deal may mean losing your money without getting what you “purchased”.

Here is a new scam plaguing Singapore.

Telegram Used for Scams in Singapore

The new scam that has hit Singapore’s shores uses the popular chatting app, Telegram. In 2023, there were up to 6,014,723 Telegram users in Singapore.

The modus operandi of the scammers is to utilise Telegram groups which offer used items for free to cheat the victims of money.

The scammers pretend to offer items for free in exchange for the victim paying a delivery fee or goodwill deposit. Unfortunately, those who do pay these fees never see the items.

They have upgraded their tactics to offer things for free, rather than asking the victim to buy something.

Take Mr Tan, for example. Speaking to The Straits Times, he shares that he was a victim of such a scam.

The taxi driver was interested in portable air-conditioners offered on the Telegram group “Give and Take Singapore” and paid $10 as a “delivery fee”.

The money was sent on 3 June, but Mr Tan has not received the aircon to date.

Mr Uron, who also spoke to The Straits Times, was luckier. He only wasted time and did not lose any money.

Mr Uron was also keen to get some free portable aircon and visited the location in Bukit Merah as instructed. He only realised that it was a scam when nobody answered the door and the neighbours had no information to offer him.

Since then, Mr Uron reported the issue to the police and alerted the group admins about the scammers hiding in their midst.

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How to Protect Yourself From Such Scammers

To protect yourself and your hard-earned money from these scammers, you may want to take note of these steps.

The police advise the public to be wary of deals that seem “too good to be true”. Also, do not send money to strangers, as you may not be able to recover that money if it turns out to be a scam.

If you do have the send money to others, opt for “buyer protection” by using escrow payment options. Some examples include Carousell Protection which releases payment to the seller only upon delivery.

Do note, however, that Carousell has been plagued by its fair share of scams, so do keep a lookout nonetheless.