‘Fake friend scams’ claim at least 945 victims, S$3.2m lost in less than 3 months

SINGAPORE — At least 945 people have been tricked by a “fake friend scam” syndicate since January, resulting in losses amounting to at least S$3.2 million, the police said on Friday (March 10).

In these cases, the victims would get text messages or phone calls via WhatsApp, for example, pretending to be their friend or acquaintance, before the caller or sender asks for financial help.

The messages or calls are from unknown phone numbers and the person on the other line would ask the victims to guess their identity.

The victims would then mention the name of a friend who they believe is calling or sending the text message.

“The scammer would then assume the identity of the said person, claiming that he has a new contact number and asking the victim to update his contact details,” the police said.

“He would contact the victim a few days later, asking for a loan, claiming that he was unable to perform a banking transaction or is experiencing financial difficulties.”

Victims would then transfer money via bank transfer, and would find out that they had been deceived only after contacting the actual friend to whom they thought they were responding, or when their money was not returned as promised.

The police advise members of the public to enable security features such as a two-factor authentication (2FA) for their bank accounts and Singpass (the national authentication system for e-services), as well as social media.

“Beware of unusual requests from someone purporting to be a person you know via text messages or phone or WhatsApp calls. Report the number to WhatsApp to initiate in-app blocking,” the police said.

Members of the public may visit www.scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 for more information on scams.

Anyone with information about scams may contact the police at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online to www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.