SINGAPORE – Scam victims have lost at least $44,000 in three days to ruses involving the urgent payment of school fees, with the police warning the public to be careful of such rackets.
In a release on Oct 17, the police said since Oct 14, at least 15 cases were reported involving scams via e-mails that purportedly came from educational institutions.
Victims would receive e-mails requesting urgent payment of outstanding school or tuition fees.
These e-mails were sent from student accounts that had been taken over by the scammers, or e-mail domains that were very similar to the official e-mail accounts of schools.
Victims were asked to transfer money to a bank account and warned that the failure to do so quickly would subject them to actions by the school’s litigation department.
They would realise that they had been scammed after checking with their school, or after being alerted to such ruses.
