13 fake PAP MP Facebook profiles created in phishing bid

SINGAPORE — At least 13 People’s Action Party (PAP) Members of Parliament (MPs) have had fake Facebook accounts created in their names over the past three days, all for phishing attempts.

These included office-holders such as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Chan Chun Sing, and Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Culture, Community and Youth Sim Ann. The others include Ms Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson), Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines), and Mr Heng Chee How (Jalan Besar). 

The fake profiles have been taken down, but the rash of phishing attempts using the MPs’ names prompted the party’s executive director Alex Yam to issue a press statement on Friday (March 17), advising social media users to look out for the grey or blue Facebook-verified tick on MPs’ pages or profiles.

“The public are advised to verify with the relevant MP or page administrators, if in doubt,” he added.

Writing on his Facebook page, Mr Yam said those behind the bogus accounts had similar modus operandi. They “start by imitating known public figures and adding friends ... (then) attempt to phish for information by sending spam messages through (Facebook) Messenger and using a simple tactic related to previous ‘Facebook Lottery’/‘Facebook Reward Bonus’ scams”. 

Mr Yam told TODAY that the earliest detected fake profile surfaced on Wednesday night, and on Friday alone, there were at least four new fake profiles.

The affected MPs said they were alerted to these fake profiles by friends, activists or their Facebook fans.

Ms Tin said she was sent screenshots of the fake profile, which copied her page right down to the profile picture. But the tone of the messages “did not sound like me at all”, she said.

MP for Punggol East Charles Chong told TODAY that this was the first time such an incident happened to him. Given how instances of online information phishing have been around for a while, he added: “I cannot say it’s something that is unexpected.”

Mr Chan, who is an MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC, said: “Regardless of the motivation behind these fake social media accounts, we have a responsibility to stop imposters. Report them. Do not accept requests to connect if you are not sure. Keep safe online.”

Commenting on the incident, Professor Ang Peng Hwa of Nanyang Technological University said the fact that so many fake profiles sprouted over the past few days showed that “this was a concerted exercise” by the perpetrators.

One reason MPs’ identities were preyed on was because the perpetrators “want to bank on this sense of trust” that politicians enjoy with the public, he added.

He advised users to watch out for telltale signs of bogus pages, such as messages that are “out of character”.

Tech blogger Alfred Siew noted that the speed at which the fake profiles were weeded out showed that users were aware and savvy in spotting such profiles. 

Mr Siew also felt that the damage from this incident would “not be that lasting”, owing to the quick removal of these pages.