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SINGAPORE : One Singaporean fell prey to lottery scam every day over the past month.
The police are concerned about the latest figures, which it called "staggering".
This year, some 210 victims have been cheated of over S$2 million. Police said the amount is already three times higher than the previous year.
Typically, fraudsters claiming to be a staff of an overseas company would call the victim on the pretext of conducting a survey or to invite the victim to an overseas event.
Subsequently, their accomplice would inform the victim that they had won a prize. But they had to pay a fee in order to claim it.
Police said one victim was cheated of $300,000.
Although the police had issued an advisory on such scams in August, the number of people falling prey to them remains a concern.
In all, the police have received 550 reports of lottery scams this year.
Police spokesperson ASP Lim Tung Li said: "The fraudsters change tactics regularly, and so such scams often take different forms. However, the common feature in all the cases is that the fraudsters would either ask for your bank account details or for some payment in advance, before the release of prize money.
"Legitimate lottery companies do not conduct themselves in this manner, and if anything sounds too good to be true, it probably is." - CNA /ls
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