Morning call, February 13 2016
In Singapore, there is a woman who lost more than half a million dollars in an Internet love scam and a man who paid out $74,000 for sex he never received. Criminals on the Internet are preying on the naivete and gullibility of Internet users here, raking in some $16million last year. That’s what the crime statistics for 2015 revealed even as crimes committed in the real world came down. The number of e-commerce cheating, credit-for-sex and internet love scams almost doubled to 3,759 cases last year, which makes you wonder if educating people on the use of the Internet is keeping pace with the wiring up of Singapore. It certainly does not make us sound like a Smart Nation.
Here’s another kind of cheat. Ten people, including foreigners, have tried to cheat the Taxman by claiming GST refunds that are not due to them. It amounts to $334,000 over five years. They go to counters at border checkpoints to claim refunds, which are allowed for tourists who make purchases. Trouble is, fraudsters either fake the claim or get bonafide travellers to claim the money.
Under the GST Act, those who engage another person to get a refund faces a fine up to $5,000 or, in default of payment, jail of up to six months. Making fraudulent GST refund claims attracts a penalty of three times the amount of tax refunded. There’s also a fine of up to $10,000 and jail of up to seven years.
You know by now that the stock markets are jittery. So people are back to backing gold again. The shiny metal is making a comeback as the traditional safe haven. Bullion for immediate delivery has shot up 17 per cent this year to US$1,242.16 ($SG1736.42) an ounce as of 8pm yesterday, outperforming global stock and bond markets, reported ST.
The Ministry of Education ministry has put up a NO ENTRY sign in schools, rejecting the Singapore Democratic Party’s offer to schools to hold socio-political talks. We will have more on this later.
Featured image by Chong Yew.
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