Business mogul Peter Lim files police reports against alleged impersonators giving fake stock trading tips

SINGAPORE — Billionaire Peter Lim, 69, has filed two police reports about people impersonating him online in recent months, after encountering alleged scammers who used his image on finance chat groups to give stock trading advice.

This is not the first time the prominent business magnate and investor, who owns Spanish La Liga football club Valencia, has reported such scams to the police. In 2019, his photos were used in fake bitcoin advertisements claiming that he endorses the products.

For the latest cases, Mr Lim's representative said on Monday (Aug 8) that the police reports were filed on June 20 and Aug 2.

Both police reports were made against the same series of scams, with the report earlier this month filed when the ploy persisted after June. 

The police confirmed that both reports were made. 

Several screenshots of these finance-related chat groups seen by TODAY showed a person using an image of Mr Lim as a profile picture, and giving financial advice and promoting stock-trading classes in English and Mandarin.

Members in the chat groups were promised the chance to earn huge sums of money "by following (the) instructions".

The chat groups were on several messaging platforms, including Telegram, WhatsApp, and iMessage. 

Mr Lim's representative added that his friends and business partners have also been "inundated" with calls, emails and phone text messages from unknown persons — who all claimed to be Mr Lim — to solicit investments. 

"The posts appeared to have gone viral very fast as Mr Lim’s office has been notified by many people who know him," the representative said.

"Given the likelihood of innocent people losing their hard-earned savings and the proliferation of the fake messages, we believe (it will be) doing the public a service to raise public awareness about these scams." 

The police said in May that for the first five months of this year, at least 587 victims have fallen prey to scams involving phone calls from strangers pretending to be their friends, with losses amounting to more than S$2.7 million.