Facebook users cheated of $1M through impersonation scams over past year: Singapore police
FILE PHOTO: AP
Facebook users have been cheated of at least $1 million due to impersonation scams over the past year, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
Between January 2018 and January 2019, the police received at least 42 reports of such scams, the SPF said in a media release on Friday (15 February).
In such cases, the victims were contacted via compromised Facebook accounts belonging to their friends and introduced to various types of grants. The victims were then informed that, to receive the grant, they had to provide their personal details and transfer money to bank accounts or remit overseas.
The victims later realised that they were cheated after verifying with their actual Facebook friends.
How to prevent such crime
The public are advised to adopt the following crime prevention measures:
Beware of unusual requests or text messages, even if they were sent by their social media contacts.
Be wary of get-rich-quick offers that ask you to transfer money in return for a greater fortune. If in doubt, verify the authenticity of the request or text message by contacting their friend. However, do not do so through the social media platform as the account might have been taken over by scammers.
Do not transfer money or give out personal information, credit/debit card details and bank account details to unknown individuals.
To provide any information related to such scams, call the police hotline at 1800-2550000, or submit it online. If you require urgent police assistance, please dial 999.
To seek scam-related advice, the public may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-7226688 or go to www.scamalert.sg. They are also welcomed to join the “Let’s Fight Scams” campaign at by signing up as an advocate to receive up-to-date messages and share them with family and friends.
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