Last Updated on 2022-09-22 , 3:12 pm
Imagine you’re going about your day as per usual.
Suddenly, you receive a text from an unknown number offering you loans at a low interest rate.
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Hold your horses.
Not Legal
For a start, do note that it’s not legal to solicit borrowers via SMS or WhatsApp, so whatever messages you’ve received are all not lawful.
Which means you’ve either two choices, since it’s akin to meeting a robber:
- Ignore it (ignore the messages, not the robber)
- Report it
Now, if you ignore it, you can simply block the number but it’s not recommended; sometimes, they used spoofed numbers that could’ve been legit numbers (e.g. bank numbers), and you might miss out the real numbers for you, say, 2FA. Just treat it as an annoyance as the authorities will slowly bring all of them to justice.
But if you’re siao-on and want to save the world from those loan shark messages, read on.
Facing Unsolicited Messages
Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) has got us covered.
When you first enter their website under “Moneylending and Online Gambling Messages”, there will be a message prompt.
At this point, you’re positive that the message has come from an unknown source and you click ‘yes’.
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The first thing the new page warns you not to do is reply to whatever message you’re seeing.
“Unsolicited SMSes or calls from unknown sources that are related to loans, financial assistance or online gambling are likely to be associated with unlicensed moneylending and illegal gambling activities.”
They then give you a few outlets in which you can report such activity.
- Lodge a police report over here.
- Calling the National Crime Prevention Council’s ‘X Ah Long’ Hotline at 1800-924-5664 (1800-X-AH-LONG)
- Providing information via I-Witness.
Police will also investigate matters reported to PDPC.
Not An Unknown Source
Alternatively, PDPC also has instructions on what to do should the message come from a known source.
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Clicking ‘no’ on the initial page would bring you to a new page.
Clicking ‘no’ or’ not sure’ will prompt you to register your phone number or check if your phone number as been registered.
‘Yes’ would lead you to another page asking if your number has been registered for 30 days or less.
A number of fewer than 30 days old would still receive unsolicited telemarketing messages for up to 30 days. You can then voice a complaint if the messages still keep coming over the allotted period here.
‘Yes’ simply leads to a page telling you why you may or may not receive certain kinds of texts.
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Clicking ‘no’ here would allow you to access a page to file any complaints you might have against certain telemarketing messages.
Just keep in mind that officers can call to ask for more information from you.
In any case, do note that it’s illegal to advertise loan services through SMS. You can know more through this video we’ve done in collaboration with the Singapore Police Force (and please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more informative videos!):
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