At least $1.4m lost to social media phishing scams since July: Police

With about 87 per cent of people in Singapore aged 15 and above accessing top social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok on a weekly basis, it is unsurprising that scammers have again turned to these platforms to find their victims.

Police said in a news release on Friday (Oct 2) night that at least 246 cases of phishing scams that are being promoted to such platforms have been reported since July this year, with total losses amounting to at least $1.4 million.

Victims of this scam variant would usually encounter social media advertisements offering affordable products such as household products, food items and fashion items on social media platforms.

Those who clicked on these advertisements were redirected to phishing websites and prompted to enter their card details and/or i-banking credentials.

According to the police, some victims also provided their one-time passwords or authorised digital tokens to complete the transactions.

They would only realise that they have been scammed when unauthorised transactions were made to their card or bank accounts.

Members of the public are advised to set up security features such as transaction limits, two-factor authentication, and the money lock feature on their internet banking accounts.

They should never disclose personal information such as banking credentials and login information, or one-time passwords to anyone.

If in doubt, members of the public can call the 24/7 ScamShield helpline at 1799.

新加坡 15 岁及以上人群中约有 87% 的人每周都会访问 Facebook、Instagram 和 TikTok 等热门社交媒体网站，因此，诈骗分子再次转向这些平台寻找受害者也就不足为奇了。

警方在周五（10 月 2 日）晚间发布的新闻稿中表示，自今年 7 月以来，至少有 246 起针对此类平台的网络钓鱼诈骗案件被报告，总损失至少达 140 万美元。

这种骗局的受害者通常会在社交媒体平台上看到提供价格低廉的产品的广告，例如家居用品、食品和时尚用品。

点击这些广告的用户会被重定向到钓鱼网站，并被要求输入他们的银行卡信息和/或网上银行凭证。

警方表示，一些受害者还提供了他们的一次性密码或授权数字令牌来完成交易。

只有当他们的银行卡或银行账户出现未经授权的交易时，他们才会意识到自己被骗了。

建议公众在其网上银行账户中设置交易限额、双因素身份验证和资金锁定等安全功能。

他们绝不应该向任何人透露个人信息，例如银行凭证、登录信息或一次性密码。

如有疑问，公众可拨打 24/7 ScamShield 热线 1799。