At least S$160,000 lost to lucky draw, e-commerce scams since August
The scams involved social media livestream platforms such as Facebook.
Screenshots of livestreams on Facebook used in scams. (Images: Singapore Police Force)
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SINGAPORE: The police have warned of lucky draw and e-commerce scams involving livestreams on social media platforms, with total losses of at least S$160,000 (US$123,500) since August.
There have been at least 30 lucky draw scams and 13 e-commerce scams reported since August, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in a news release on Saturday (Oct 18). The scams involved platforms like Facebook.
In lucky draw scams, victims would come across Facebook livestreams promoting scratch cards offering the chance to win cash prizes.
After purchasing the scratch cards, victims would be asked to transfer more money, purportedly to "upgrade" their chances of winning or to increase the amount of the cash prizes.
“In some cases, the scammers enticed the victims to do so by allowing deferred payment,” said SPF.
When the victims “won”, they would be asked to transfer money again for various reasons, such as administrative fees, to receive their winnings.
The e-commerce scams involved victims who had come across Facebook livestreams selling bags allegedly containing gold. These are sometimes called "gold mine bags".
Victims were able to purchase these bags for a chance to win, the police said. If they did not win, the scammers would ask them to purchase more bags or buy “upgraded” bags with a higher chance of containing gold.
“The scammers would also offer to re-purchase the gold from the victims at a price higher than the retail price,” said the police.
However, the victims would also be asked to transfer more money to receive their profits.
Most cases of the scam variants involved victims being instructed to make bank transfers with PayNow or DuitNow, usually through QR codes provided by the scammers.
“The victims would realise that they had been scammed when they did not receive their winnings or profits as promised, or when they sought verification with the police,” said SPF.
“We would like to remind members of the public to not transfer monies to any unknown persons and persons whose identity you did not verify.”
