{"id":85057,"date":"2026-09-15T08:48:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T00:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=85057"},"modified":"2026-09-15T08:48:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T00:48:59","slug":"job-scams-linked-to-pokemon-and-trading-cards-in-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=85057","title":{"rendered":"Job scams linked to Pokemon and trading cards in Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"text-primary article-summary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 <!-- -->At least $71,000<!-- --> has been lost in job scams involving online tasks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/cash-cards-and-charizards-inside-singapores-pokemon-trading-boom?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">related to <\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/cash-cards-and-charizards-inside-singapores-pokemon-trading-boom?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">Pokemon and other trading cards<\/span><\/a> over the <!-- -->past three weeks<!-- -->.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The police said in an advisory on <!-- -->Sept 14<!-- --> that <!-- -->at least 12 such cases have been reported since Aug 25<!-- -->.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The victims were contacted through <!-- -->unsolicited messages or calls, and offered remote online jobs<!-- --> involving tasks related to Pokemon or other trading cards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">They were directed to <!-- -->fraudulent websites and instructed to complete tasks<!-- --> such as opening digital trading card packs or selecting trading cards in exchange for commissions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">To complete tasks or unlock higher-value opportunities, victims had to make cryptocurrency transfers or deposits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Although <!-- -->some victims initially received small payouts<!-- -->, they were subsequently asked to make additional payments to complete tasks, clear negative balances, restore their accounts or withdraw their purported earnings, said the police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The victims realised they had been scammed only when they were unable to withdraw money from the fraudulent websites.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In releasing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/over-410m-lost-to-scams-in-first-half-of-2026-8-in-10-victims-voluntarily-handed-money-to-scammers?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">mid-year scam statistics<\/span><\/a> on Aug 26, the police said cases involving Pokemon trading cards <!-- -->surged from 279 in the first half of 2025 to 605 during the same period in 2026<!-- -->.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">A total of <!-- -->$1.2 million was lost to Pokemon card scams in the first half of 2026<!-- -->, up from the $472,000 lost in the first six months of 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In their advisory, the police urged the public to be vigilant amid a resurgence of such scams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/at-least-71000-lost-in-job-scams-linked-to-pokemon-and-other-trading-cards-over-3-weeks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 At least $71,000 has been lost in job scams involving online tasks related to Pokemon and other trading cards over the past three&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85058,"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-85057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85057","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=85057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/85058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}