Police Advisory On Investment Scams

The Police would like to alert members of the public to remain vigilant against investment scams. Since July 2024, there have been at least 897 cases reported, with total losses amounting to at least $36 million.

In recent cases, scammers deployed the following approaches to scam victims.

Adding victims into communication platform chatgroups/channels

In this approach, victims are added to chatgroups or channels (e.g. Telegram) by scammers. These chatgroups or channels may impersonate famous individuals or reputable companies. To lure victims into believing that the investment is authentic and profitable, other "members" in the chatgroup will claim that they had profited from their investments by sharing screenshots of their profits. After being tempted by the alleged "profits", victims will contact the scammers who willl offer them various investment plans. Scammers will then ask victims to provide their personal information, such as bank account number, name and phone numbers, to join the "investment" and transfer monies to specified PayNow numbers or bank accounts as part of the "investment". To reinforce the deceit, scammers may also use "investment" websites or applications to display "profits".

Befriending Approach

In the befriending approach, scammers contact victims through social media or communication platforms (e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp) or dating applications (e.g. Coffee Meets Bagel). Scammers will build rapport and trust with victims before introducing them to investment opportunities. Victims will then follow scammers' instructions to transfer monies to specified bank accounts or PayNow numbers for the purpose of investing. Victims will believe that the investment is genuine after receiving some returns initially. "Investment" websites or applications displaying alleged growing "profits" made by victims will also lead them into investing larger sums.

For both approaches, victims would only realise that they had been scammed and they could not withdraw their "profits" despite transferring increasingly large sums of "fees incurred" for the "investment". The scammers subsequently became uncontactable.

Members of the public are strongly advised to be cautious when making investment decisions and to adopt the following precautionary measures:

1. ADD - Set security features (e.g. activate the privacy function on your device which disallows unknown users from adding you into chatgroups; set up transaction limits for internet banking transactions, enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Multifactor Authentication for banks and e-wallets). Do not send money to anyone you do not know or have not met in person before.
   
   
2. CHECK - for scam signs with official sources or websites. No legitimate investment company would add you into a group chat to sell an investment to you. Verify the authenticity of the information by:
   
   - Asking as many questions as needed to understand the investment opportunities. If the company is unable to answer or avoids answering any questions, be wary;
   
   - Checking on the company, its owners, directors, and management members to assess if investment opportunities are genuine; and
   
   - Confirming the company's and representatives' credentials by using available resources, including the Financial Institutions Directory, Register of Representatives, and Investor Alert List on the MAS' website (www.mas.gov.sg).
   
   - Checking that applications installed on your phone are legitimate by seeing if they are available on official application stores.
   
   
3. TELL - authorities, family, and friends about scams. Report any fraudulent transactions to your bank immediately.
   
   

If you have any information relating to such crimes or are in doubt, please call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/i-witness. All information will be kept strictly confidential. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial '999'.

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!

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