Singapore
Extortion letters hit over 70 people in Singapore, including politicians
Over 70 in Singapore, including Members of Parliament, received extortion letters with manipulated photos in inappropriate poses. Victims were threatened with public exposure unless they paid. One lost S$20,000.
SINGAPORE: More than 70 individuals, including several politicians, have received extortion letters featuring manipulated images of themselves in inappropriate poses. The Singapore Police Force reported this alarming trend on 19 April, noting that the extortion attempts occurred in March and April.
Victims received the letters at their workplaces, accompanied by threats of releasing the images on social media if demands were not met. One individual, a 50-year-old, already succumbed to the pressure, losing S$20,000.
The extortionists demanded contact through an email address provided in the letters, further threatening the victims with “leaking” the images if they did not comply.
Among those targeted were MPs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Dr Tan Wu Meng, and Mr Edward Chia.
Dr Balakrishnan, also Singapore’s Foreign Minister, and his colleagues took to social media on 20 April to condemn these acts, describing them as “deplorable” and contrary to societal values.
The police have highlighted that these manipulations have likely utilized publicly available photos and workplace details, with AI-powered tools enabling the creation of realistic but fake images. This incident underscores the growing threat of “deepfake” technology, which can generate convincing but fraudulent content quickly.
Authorities are advising anyone who receives such manipulated images to stay calm, avoid contacting the sender or paying any ransom, and report the matter immediately. They should also preserve the letter in a separate storage bag for police investigation.
The rise of such high-tech scams, especially involving public figures, reflects broader concerns about the impact of deepfakes on society.
Mr Chia noted the challenges in distinguishing between real and fake content, emphasizing the potential threats to personal and public integrity.
Dr Tan refrained from speculating on the identity or location of the perpetrators but affirmed a strong stance against intimidation and the resolve to uphold their duties without fear.
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Who are being extorted? Only rich folks have this privilege. Let’s have the names of real money bags. This is newsworthy. Surely this news will be under wraps, not reported in Sg news, nor CNA. Are you aware Th bureacrats are all hidden $Billionaire? ===================== Meanwhile, Most of the news/advert on NP, ST, CNA are false – either promote self or slander others with fake info, esp if they are good. Slander is used when argument is lost. Fujian $B did legit biz in other countries auto get PR, nothing wrong, nothing done in Sg. Only Sg has illegal casino… Read more »
False flag operation? Why would they target ruling party members when they know that state resources are behind them.
Just to add, AI generated images, even today are relatively easy to identify as fake. I don’t know about AI generated images of 5 to 10 years from now. But the technology is not that advanced….yet.
Where are the images?
If AI generated, we can still do a check to see if they were Real.
Today, with Technology, we can even check 10000 year old fossils.
?????
More Questions then Answers???
Hmmm
To all those who have Facebook, Telegram or TikTok, this is just the start of a nightmare in your lives. Once I was required to put up my full name and tel. no.in public.After a few days, I received a call. The caller had traced members of my family who live overseas and asked me if I was related to them. I asked the caller the relevance to the question and hung up. It spooked me enough not to have any social media accounts. I still do traditional banking. Here, how did the blackmail happen? By email or by regular… Read more »
And why Terry the Changi Russian Laundry not in news … Big news leh … But not reported in Gutzy?!?
Besides VB…who are those 2 other miws? Never heard of them till now…parachuted in mps?
and yes , i dont read the Shit Times..
Scams scams scams…
Foreigners mustve heard that SG roads are paved with gold..
Just look at the sentences those fujian 3bil$ money launderers getting…no wonder all these jokers are crawling out of the woodwork trying their luck!
Making a mockery of SG laws…allowed by law min Shanmu!
Overpaid nothing better to do Defence scams using public money for self interest to con public
This is what MOD is doing.
Irrelevant seeking to be relevant
priducing scams and fake news
imaginary fear
Leeching on the land
Creating problems for Sg, world
…. Art of War
keep your men in suspense
hide the facts
tell them fake stories
Yesterday uncle thot ah loon up in the lorry.
Sh*t times Sumigo wrote 9 pages long about ah loon which looked like a eulogy tracing his life and achievements.
Is ah loon still around?
𝐈 𝐀𝐦 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 $𝟖𝟏,𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐬𝐨 𝐅𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟑 𝐭𝐨 𝟒 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲.𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐈𝐭’𝐬’ 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬
𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬…. 𝐖𝐰𝐰.𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝟏.𝐂𝐨𝐦
Ownself never do anything wrong, thunder and ligthning also not scare.
Scam also cannot scam.
The 50 yr old must already have done something wrong ,so succumb and lost $20,000.
Those 80 over ppl inside the Parliment must hence ask themselves…”have they done something wrong?”😆😆😆😆
So this is how they intend to find Iswaran as NOT guilty of corruption? Every charge against him was deep-faked and AI-generated by . . . must be Oppies or Free Riders . . . of course.
Make $170 per hour. its very hard to find jobs nowadays. In this situation, you have access to a wealth of resources to help you with your working abilities. Be motivated to qy2 promote Thousands of works such as copy paste things through job boards and career websites on internet
Just Take A Look At This………………… 𝐖𝐰𝐰.𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐏𝐚𝐲𝟕.𝐜𝐨𝐦
Make $170 per hour. its very hard to find jobs nowaday. In this situation, you have access to a wealth of resources to help you with your working abilities. Be motivated to qy1 promote Thousands of works such as copy paste things through job boards and career websites on internet
Just Take A Look At This………………… 𝐖𝐰𝐰.𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐏𝐚𝐲𝟕.𝐜𝐨𝐦
Make $170 per hour. its very hard to find jobs nowaday. In this situation, you have access to a wealth of resources to help you with your working abilities. Be motivated to qr1 promote Thousands of works such as copy paste things through job boards and career websites on internet
Just Take A Look At This………………… 𝐖𝐰𝐰.𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐏𝐚𝐲𝟕.𝐜𝐨𝐦
And what happen to Dr Tan Wu Meng head … Remind me of the Potatoes head plant … But the potato head plant looks so much cuter … Tsk tsk tsk
Show us the photo, we will have our own judgement.
See his topsy head, you know this is just a scam. Lack wisdom.
Sg has a team of aro 60+ msin, SPR doing video, creating stories and news.
Sg 7 ministries also paid $m to India to create propaganda which you find circulating thru whatsapp, etc. Chinese version is done by msin, SPR.
Mostly lack wisdom, can con layman and themselves.
So no need to share these kind of rubbish.
No need to waste time reading these rubbish.
Looking at the Police reports as enumerated by Gutzy, it appears very parse, devoid of many relevant, important info not revealed. Could it be really embarrassing? Looks so, from my inference, at least.
In fact, critically, it quited only couple of so so prominent people, one high profile politician.
I would conjure it’s really bad incident. And this is truly, outcome of not a free, mature society SG is – only foreigners come here to dig money, easily, rob and damage rice bowls.
For one, this rare incident has EXPOSED something the PAP Administration unprepared for. This is sure.
Wonder what nationities were these extortionist.. foreign players?
Looks like the work of some amateurs….sure going to get caught & charged soon.
Hope we get to read the outcome on this ..
I believe it’s quite impossible the rich that those Loong mentioned he welcomed, can create jobs for police as much, presumably like this extortion incident. Hahaha.
, … the extortionists should never have targeted members of the ruling party. They’d never get blood out of a stone. They should’ve known better, … unless they’re unfamiliar with their preferences to spending other peoples monies !!! Dr Tan utilised words and phrases like “views or political persuasion”, “why this is happening now, at a very important time in Sg history”, “will not let anyone intimidate us or deter us from doing our duties”, … giving it an unnecessary political slant !!! One’d assume that as extortion letters goes, it’s monies they’re after, but, … this Dr Tan stated… Read more »