SINGAPORE – At least $20,000 has been lost since November to malware scams involving online sexual services.
At least six of these cases have been reported in this timeframe, the police said on Dec 3.
In this scam variant, victims encounter offers of online sexual services via social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Threads.
Scammers deceive victims into downloading a malicious application under the pretext of initiating a video call, said the police.
The application allows scammers to remotely access victims’ photo galleries and contact lists in their devices.
Scammers capture images of victims engaging in sexual acts during the video call, or retrieve compromising content from their photo galleries.
The scammers then threaten to send the photographs to the victims’ contacts, unless the victims transfer money to the scammers.
