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The Singapore Police Force (SPF) would like to alert members of the public to a recent trend involving unauthorised access to cryptocurrency accounts through compromised email accounts. Since mid-August 2026, the Police have observed an increase in cases where victims' cryptocurrency accounts were compromised following unauthorised access to email accounts linked to their cryptocurrency exchange accounts.

Investigations revealed that several of the affected email accounts had previously appeared in data breaches on other platforms, suggesting that victims' credentials may have been exposed. Perpetrators may have exploited this by using the compromised email credentials to access victims’ cryptocurrency accounts, taking advantage of victims who reused the same passwords across multiple online services. In such cases, scammers may:

• Search the victim's email account to identify cryptocurrency platforms or exchanges used by the victim;
• Create inbox rules to automatically archive, forward or delete emails from cryptocurrency exchanges to avoid detection;
• Initiate password reset requests for cryptocurrency exchange accounts and intercept password reset links, one-time passwords (OTPs) or verification emails sent to the victim; and
• Use credentials obtained through previous data breaches to gain access to cryptocurrency accounts where the same password has been reused across multiple online services.

The Police would like to advise members of the public to adopt the following precautionary measures:

• Use Strong Passwords and Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) or Two-Factor Authentication (2FA):
  Use strong and unique passwords for each online account and avoid reusing passwords across multiple services. Always enable MFA or 2FA for online accounts. Where possible, use an authenticator application rather than SMS-based verification, which is more susceptible to interception.
  
  
• Review Email Account Security
  Regularly review the security settings of your email account, including checking for unauthorised inbox rules, email forwarding settings and suspicious login activity.
  
  
• Stay Alert to Data Breaches and Secure Affected Accounts Promptly
  Pay attention to notifications from service providers about data breaches. If your account credentials have been exposed, change your password immediately and ensure that MFA or 2FA is enabled.
  
  
• Monitor Cryptocurrency Accounts
  Regularly review your cryptocurrency accounts and transaction history and enable account activity notifications where available.

If you suspect that your email account or cryptocurrency account has been compromised, take the following steps immediately:

• Contact your email service provider and cryptocurrency exchange to secure or freeze your accounts, where possible.
• Change the passwords for your affected email account, cryptocurrency account and any other online accounts that share the same password.
• Review your email account for any unauthorised inbox rules, email forwarding rules, unfamiliar login activity, or changes to account recovery information.
• Sign out of all unknown sessions and devices and remove any unauthorised trusted devices, recovery methods, or authentication methods linked to your account.
• Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) or Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).
• Report the incident to the Police.

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/i-witness. All information will be kept strictly confidential. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’. If you are unsure if something is a scam, call the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799 or download the ScamShield app to check, detect and block scams. For more information on scams, visit www.scamshield.gov.sg.