The Police would like to alert members of the public to remain vigilant against investment and job scams. Since January 2025, there have been at least 32 reported cases involving the use of fraudulent mobile applications on the Apple App Store or Google PlayStore, with total losses amounting to at least $1.72 million.
In this scam variant, scammer would approach victims through social media platforms, communications and dating applications such as Facebook, Linkedin and Tinder, or approach victims via social media advertisements on investments. After contacting the victims, scammers would build rapport with them before introducing fake investment or job opportunities. Victims would be deceived to download fraudulent mobile applications from either the Apple App Store or Google PlayStore (e.g, Dyreka, M Tree PE, Saftools, Tik StoreB2B, etc.), and create an account purportedly for the purpose of joining lucrative investment opportunities, or for setting up their own business. Victims would be instructed to transfer monies to specified bank accounts or scammer’s cryptocurrency wallets, as part of the “investment” or to purchase of goods from bogus wholesale centres to start the said online business. The transactions included local, foreign fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies. Some scammers would also provide victims with small profits to deceive them to depositing more money into these fraudulent investments or online businesses. Victims would realise they had been scammed when they could not withdraw their monies, or when the scammers became uncontactable.
Members of the public are strongly advised to be cautious when making investment decisions and to adopt the following precautionary measures:
- ADD - Set security features (e.g. activate the privacy function on your device which disallows unknown users from adding you into chatgroups).
- CHECK – Check for scam signs with official sources or websites. You can check the legitimacy of suspicious messages, phone numbers and website links via the ScamShield app or visit the ScamShield website at www.scamshield.gov.sg. Verify the authenticity of the investment company by:
- Asking as many questions as needed to understand the investment opportunities. If the company is unable to answer or avoids answering any questions, be wary;
- Checking on the company, its owners, directors, and management members to assess if investment opportunities are genuine; and
- Confirming the company’s and representatives’ credentials by using available resources, including the Financial Institutions Directory, Register of Representatives, and Investor Alert List on the MAS’ website (www.mas.gov.sg).
- Only download applications from official application stores. Further ensure that they are not malicious by downloading trusted anti-malware scanning applications.
- Check for user reviews and ratings of applications before downloading them.
- TELL - authorities, family, and friends about scams. Report any fraudulent transactions to your bank immediately.
If you are in doubt, call the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799 to check. For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
01 August 2025 @ 11:55 AM