The Police would like to alert members of the public to a new variant of phishing scam which involves fake advertisements/posts for cheap luggage on Facebook. Since November 2023, 14 victims have fallen prey to this variant with losses amounting to at least $799.
In some of these cases, victims encountered Facebook advertisements/posts offering travel suitcases for as low as $2 from “Singapore Airlines Travel” and abusing the Singapore Airlines trademark in the Facebook profile picture to give the advertisement/post a degree of legitimacy. After clicking on the advertisement/post by the fake Facebook account, victims were directed to a phishing website and required to provide their credentials, such as their name, email address and payment card details, to pay for the branded luggage at the discounted price. Their credit card details would then be misused by the scammers. Victims only realised that they had been scammed after they were notified about or discovered unauthorised transactions on their card statements.
The Police would like to advise members of the public to adopt the following precautionary measures:
- ADD – ScamShield App and security features (e.g. set up transaction limits for internet banking transactions, enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Multifactor Authentication for banks.
- CHECK – For scam signs with official sources (e.g. ScamShield WhatsApp bot @ https://go.gov.sg/scamshield-bot, call the Anti-Scam Helpline on 1800-722-6688, or visit www.scamalert.sg). Look out for tell-tale signs of a phishing website and if the deal is too good to be true, it probably is so check with the company on its official website if such deals are available. If in doubt, never share your personal information and payment card details with anyone.
- TELL – authorities, family, and friends about scams. Report any fraudulent transactions to your bank immediately.
If you have any information relating 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. All information will be kept strictly confidential. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!
Annex A
Examples of fake luggage advertisements ▼
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
07 December 2023 @ 9:00 PM