There’s A New Scam in S’pore And 90% Of S’poreans Will Fall For It

By
Zhi Hao
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Phone scammers have always been pretty creative. They could pose as the Police, financial agents or even your loved one.

Well, guess who’s next?

According to Channel News Asia, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) have warned the public that scammers are now pretending to be telco staff members.

How do the scammers work?

Random members of the public would receive a call, whereby an automated Mandarin voice message will start playing.

It tells them that their phone lines will be terminated and they have to press the number ‘1’ to receive more instructions. Their supposed ‘origin’ is either the Chinese Police or a telco company.

The call recipients would be informed that a phone number registered under their names had been utilized for illegal activities such as the running of an online gambling website, or accessing illicit websites.

The Mandarin-speaking operator would follow up with a request for their personal information – the recipient’s name, identification card number, nationality and contact number – and claim that the details were needed to resolve the issue.

SPF advised public members to disregard unsought calls, especially ones from unknown people.

Scammers might employ caller ID spoofing technology to hide the actual phone number, and as a result, calls that look like they were made from a local number might not be from Singapore.

The police also encourage public members to avoid giving out personal information and bank details.

Information like iBanking account usernames, passwords and token-generated codes should be kept secret.

Should you get a ‘suspicious’ call from a local number, SPF added, hang up, wait for five minutes before dialling back. This is to check whether it’s a real call and not a potential scam.

Those with information on this matter can call the police at 1800 – 255 – 0000 or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.

If you’re unsure and think you’re falling into a potential scam, you can call the anti-scam helpline at 1800 – 722 – 6688 or go to the website.

Will Singaporeans Fall For This?

Honestly, yes. With the technologically-driven age we are living in, having no data at hand is akin to spiritual suicide.

So should a telco company start calling you in regards to the cancellation of your line, you can be sure that 90% of Singaporeans would start to get flustered and ignore all logical thinking.

Watch yourselves, people! Spread the word, and make sure that nobody falls prey to the scam.

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Feature Image: straitstimes.com

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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Zhi Hao
Email: [email protected]