SINGAPORE \u2013 Scam victims have lost more than $259,000 since June 24 through ruses involving fake courier companies phishing for personal and banking information.<\/p>\n
At least 43 cases of such scams have been reported since June 24, with no fewer than 20 reported on July 13 alone, the police said in a statement on July 15.<\/p>\n
In these scams, victims received messages from numbers bearing Morocco\u2019s country code, +212, or e-mails seemingly sent by couriers such as Ninja Van and J&T Express, telling them that their parcels could not be delivered due to an \u201cinvalid\u201d address.<\/p>\n
Victims were urged to update their delivery address within 24 hours via a link that closely resembled the respective couriers\u2019 real web addresses.<\/p>\n
In some cases, the messages included a local helpline number and directed victims to access the phishing link through various means, such as replying \u201cY\u201d to receive the link or opening a separate message containing the link.<\/p>\n
Victims who clicked on the link were redirected to a fake website that looked like the couriers\u2019 official pages and were prompted to pay a \u201cre-delivery fee\u201d, typically between six cents and $1.64.<\/p>\n
Victims were asked to enter their card details and authorise the transaction using their digital tokens.<\/p>\n
In some cases, their credit cards were added to online payment platforms such as Google Pay or Apple Pay without their knowledge.<\/p>\n
Victims discovered they had been scammed only when they saw unauthorised transactions on their cards or bank accounts.<\/p>\n
For more information on scams, go to www.scamshield.gov.sg, or call the ScamShield Helpline on 1799.<\/p>\n
To report scams, call 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.<\/span><\/a>police.gov.sg\/i-witness<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n