If there’s one thing that never changes, rain or shine, it’ll be scams.
The world is entering a global recession? People get scammed.
A pandemic is destroying countries all around the world? People get scammed.
Everything’s fine and we’re all looking forward to iPhone 20? People will still get scammed.
Despite the fact that its Covid-19, scammers are still hard at work.
SPF Warns About Scams Whereby You Can Get $500 TRF in 5 Minutes
On 8 April 2020, our friendly men in blue uploaded a Facebook post warning Singaporeans about a spike in Fake Cash Giveaways scams.
They highlight how scammers are now using social media platforms (like Facebook) to advertise fake cash giveaways.
Once victims are hooked, they’ll be persuaded into giving up their bank account details and One-Time Passwords (OTPs).
Then they’ll use the information to make unauthorised transactions with your bank account.
Scams Are Now Evolving
Fake cash giveaways can only last for so long.
I mean, how much can you expect a business such as IKEA to give when they’re forced to suspend a huge bulk of their business, right?
These really smart scammers are now evolving their scams to include references to Covid-19 related payouts, such as the Temporary Relief Fund (TRF).
This particular scammer promises to give you the $500 relief fund within 5 minutes.
Keep in mind that the MSF is probably overworked processing tens of thousands of application while trying to meet the three-day processing time they previously promised.
And, of course, all you have to do is to provide your user id, pin and account number instead of supporting documents.
Of course, there are only two types of people who’ll go for this:
- People who are greedy;
- People who are desperate and don’t meet the criteria for the TRF scheme
For the latter, all I can say is to call in to appeal because MSF is now trying to make the scheme more flexible to help as much as possible.
How flexible? Flexible enough for someone to cheat them and brag about it online.
Some Friendly Tips:
- Be wary of “unusual requests or offers from strangers”; in fact, even social media contacts shouldn’t be trusted because they can be spoofed.
- Verify the authenticity of the message; you can check with your friends offline or through official government sources. If you want authentic WhatsApp news, you can join the Gov.sg WhatsApp group to receive official updates.
- Don’t do anything, get someone to look through the message with you
- Never give out any personal or bank account details, including OTPs.
For those who have information about scams, you can call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit it online here.
For scam-related advice, you can call 1800-722-6688 or browse this website.
Remember, the world might be ending but scammers are like cockroaches. They’ll still be around somewhere, biding their time.
You can read their full post here:
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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