More than 6,000 victims fall prey to job scams this year, with losses of nearly S$97 million
An example of a conversation between a scammer and a victim. (Image: Singapore Police Force)
SINGAPORE: At least 6,600 victims have fallen for job scams so far this year, with losses amounting to at least S$96.8 million (US$80 million), said the Singapore police on Saturday (Sep 16).
This is an increase from the figures in their mid-year crime statistics which state that more than 5,700 job scam cases were reported, involving losses of S$79.4 million.
Highlighting the growing prevalence of such crimes, the police issued another advisory on Saturday warning of a job scam variant where victims would be tricked into completing surveys before being offered fake job opportunities.
Victims would receive unsolicited WhatsApp or Telegram messages asking them to participate in a survey or like social media posts in exchange for a small commission.
After victims were convinced that they could earn a commission, scammers would provide another WhatsApp or Telegram contact for victims to join another group to perform tasks such as “boosting” the value of cryptocurrencies or “reviewing” online merchants.
“To perform these tasks, victims had to create accounts on scam websites and transfer money to bank accounts provided by the scammers,” the police said.
“In some cases, victims would be instructed by scammers to provide an advance payment of large sums of their own money for various reasons.”
Victims would realise they had been scammed when they failed to withdraw their commission, or when the scammers could no longer be contacted.
In their mid-year crime statistics released on Wednesday, the police said the top five scam types in Singapore – making up 83.8 per cent of all cases reported in the first half of this year – were job scams, e-commerce scams, fake friend call scams, phishing scams and investment scams.
The number of cases for all these scam types rose across the board compared with the first half of 2022. The amounts cheated in three of the top five scam types also went up.
The police advised members of the public to check with official sources such as the scam alert website or call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688, if they are unsure about signs of a scam.
“Do not accept dubious job offers that offer lucrative returns for minimal effort. Do not send money to anyone whom you do not know or have not met in person before,” they added.
