SINGAPORE – Telegram users should beware of fraudulent messages claiming to provide links to information on the GST Voucher scheme and MediSave, said the police on July 16.<\/p>\n
The resurgence of the scam variant has resulted in victims\u2019 Telegram accounts being hijacked, the police said.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced on July 9 that about 1.5 million Singaporeans will receive up to $850<\/span><\/a> in GST Voucher cash payouts in August.<\/p>\n Around 710,000 seniors will get up to $450 in MediSave top-ups, with the amount depending on their income and home value.<\/p>\n Scam victims would receive messages containing infographics urging them to check their eligibility for payouts through a fake link embedded in the Telegram messages.<\/p>\n Once victims click on the link, they would be asked to disclose personal information such as mobile phone numbers, names or NRIC numbers.<\/p>\n They may also be asked to provide Telegram verification codes which would allow scammers to take over their Telegram accounts.<\/p>\n Scammers would then use these hijacked accounts to send phishing links to the victims\u2019 contacts or add them to chat groups that promote fraudulent investment schemes.<\/p>\n The police said that only an SMS notification from \u201cgov.sg\u201d will inform Singapore citizens of their benefit(s).<\/p>\n Citizens will not be asked to reply to the SMS, click on any links, or provide any information to the sender.<\/p>\n Members of the public may visit govbenefits.gov.sg<\/span><\/a> for more details.<\/p>\n The police added that MOF does not have a broadcast channel on Telegram and will not contact members of the public via the platform.<\/p>\n Jozsef Gegeny, a senior security researcher for research and development at Acronis Threat Research Unit, said messages on government payouts are highly effective phishing lures because they combine trust and financial incentive.<\/p>\n The cybersecurity expert said: \u201cPeople are familiar with legitimate announcements about vouchers, rebates and cash assistance, so they are more likely to click on a message that appears to come from a government agency.\u201d<\/p>\n The police reminded the public that the authorities would never ask them via phone calls, social media or e-mails to disclose personal or banking details to claim government vouchers.<\/p>\n They would also not ask them to transfer money or install mobile applications from unofficial app stores to claim such vouchers or other government cash benefits.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/figure>\n Gegeny advised those who have provided banking information to contact their banks immediately to secure their accounts, block cards if necessary, and monitor any unauthorised transactions.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cThe faster action is taken, the greater the chance of preventing financial losses.\u201d<\/p>\n Gegeny also advised that if a Telegram account has been compromised, users should review active sessions, log out unfamiliar devices and enable two-factor authentication.<\/p>\n They should also report the incident, save evidence such as screenshots, and alert their contacts if the scammers have sent messages from their account.<\/p>\n In their annual scam statistics for 2025 released in February<\/span><\/a>, the police said $913 million was lost that year.<\/p>\n To report scam-related information, the public can call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000 or submit details online at\u00a0www.police.gov.sg\/iwitness<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n For more information on scams, go to\u00a0www.scamshield.gov.sg<\/span><\/a>, or call the ScamShield Helpline on 1799.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE – Telegram users should beware of fraudulent messages claiming to provide links to information on the GST Voucher scheme and MediSave, said the police…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/69268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>\n
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