Singapore
Singaporeans lose S$96.8 million to job scams in 2023
Singapore police report a significant rise in job scams this year, with losses reaching S$96.8 million (US$80 million) from 6,600 victims.
A new scam variant involves victims being lured via messaging apps into fake tasks, often requiring upfront payments.
Authorities urge caution and verification through official channels before accepting any job offers.
SINGAPORE: Singapore police reported on Saturday (16 Sep) that job scams have duped at least 6,600 individuals this year, leading to staggering losses of approximately S$96.8 million (US$80 million).
These statistics indicate a sharp rise from the mid-year crime data, which documented over 5,700 job scam incidents with losses reaching S$79.4 million.
As these fraudulent schemes become increasingly rampant, police have observed a new variant of job scam.
In this deceitful approach, potential victims are enticed with unsolicited WhatsApp or Telegram messages, inviting them to partake in surveys or promote social media content in return for a nominal commission.
Once victims are persuaded by the initial offer’s legitimacy, scammers direct them to another messaging group. Here, victims are given tasks, often under the guise of “enhancing” cryptocurrency values or “evaluating” online sellers.
The police explained, “To execute these duties, victims are required to set up profiles on deceitful websites and wire funds to bank details handed out by the fraudsters.” They further highlighted that, in several instances, victims are deceived into fronting substantial personal funds under various pretexts.
The scam’s true nature becomes evident when victims are either unable to claim their promised commission or find themselves unable to contact the culprits.
Wednesday’s mid-year crime data highlighted that the predominant scams in Singapore for the first half of the year comprised job scams, e-commerce deceptions, counterfeit friend call cons, phishing schemes, and investment frauds.
Collectively, these fraudulent tactics represented a significant 83.8% of all documented cases. Notably, the frequency and financial consequences of three out of the top five scams surged compared to the first half of 2022.
In light of these alarming trends, the police urge the public to validate any suspicious offers via official channels, such as the scam awareness website or the anti-scam hotline at 1800-722-6688.
Their message is clear: “Refrain from engaging with questionable job propositions that pledge high returns for minimal work and avoid transferring funds to unfamiliar individuals or those you haven’t personally met.”
It’s the silltporean entirely sheltered.from outside world due to state indoctrination. They can’t.and don’t discern between what’s reala.nd what’s not.. scammers find this psyche easier to exploit
Is it fair to say 86% of them voted against Change? 🤣🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍🤝🤝
It all boils down to greed and gullibility.
All be~cause SillyPoreans are so so indoctrinated and inculcated to be entirely “trusting” within the confines of bubbledSillyPore, plus, … … everyone and every~one lives their lives on the phone, virtually every second of their naive and nurtured the SillyPore way, kinda life !!!
Add to that, a consistent promotion of a cashless society, … where every~one’s “assets” are mostly online, on their phones !!!
Perfect combination of mitigating factors, … for online scams and skullduggery !!!
A progressive and yet, … proned and susceptible to being “hoodwinked” at the same time !!!
srzzzly these job scams are so stupid i really wonder who would be dum enough to fall for them? buy stuff from shady online shop to earn money? nonsense.
this is not like those reports of people being kidnapped to work like slaves in thailand and cambodia.
I can believe there is such a scam, and many other scams everywhere, in every media. I just cannot believe there were so many people fell victim to these scams! Has the police did any profiling of these victims, what their demographic, gender, etc? It cannot be Singapore has so many idiots, right? There were scam since long, long time ago, even before the internet! Remember there were cure-all snake oil sellers, magic stones sellers, fake watches, etc!? If the police wants to help these victims, it should study why and how these people were conned! Help the victims, not… Read more »
That’s like $17,000 over dollars per Singaporean. I don’t have that much money.
So Fake.