The Police would like to alert the public on a new variant of non-banking related phishing scam where victims would receive unsolicited calls from scammers impersonating as employees of online marketplaces.
In these cases, victims received unsolicited phone calls from callers claiming to be from an online marketplace. The caller would claim to verify whether victims had made any purchase on its e-commerce platform as their accounts might have been compromised. At this instance, victims would inform the scammer to cancel the purchase order as they did not make any purchase on the platform. The caller would then request for victims to provide their credit/debit card numbers and One-Time Password (OTP) received on their phones in order to facilitate the refund process. In some cases, the caller would follow up on the call with an email indicating that there were issues with the victims’ account payment methods. The email would instruct the victims to rectify the issue by updating their payment method and address through the link provided. Victims would realise that they had fallen prey to scam when they discovered unauthorised transactions made to their credit/debit card.
Members of the public are advised to adopt these crime prevention measures:
- Avoid answering calls with “+” prefix unless you are expecting an overseas call;
- Always verify the authenticity of the call or callers’ intent with the official website or sources. In this case, you may do so by:
- Verifying your credit/debit card bill for any unknown transactions made to the said online marketplace;
- Contacting the online marketplace via the numbers listed on its official website to verify the error in purchase.
- Never share your OTP with anyone. You should always verify the merchant details and amount indicated in the OTP text message/notification when you receive any OTP;
- Report any fraudulent transaction to the bank immediately and terminate the credit/debit card involved.
- Look out for spoofed email addresses with links leading to dubious URLs claiming to be part of the online marketplaces.
If you have information related to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. Please call ‘999’ if you require urgent Police assistance.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam hotline at 1800-722-6688. Join the ‘Spot the Signs. Stop the Crimes’ campaign at www.scamalert.sg/fight by signing up as an advocate to receive up-to-date messages and share them with your family and friends. Together, we can help stop scams and prevent our loved ones from becoming the next victim.
Annex A
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
24 September 2021 @ 11:40 AM