FILE PHOTO: Temasek Poly students showing their digital forensic projects in 2011. A recent scam e-mail claimed that the recipient, a student from Temasek Polytechnic, had not paid tuition fees amounting to S$2,850, despite being sent a previous reminder. - ST/ANN
SINGAPORE: Several compromised e-mail addresses of Temasek Polytechnic (TP) students have been used by scammers, with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and institutes of higher learning cautioning parents and students not to respond to e-mails for tuition fee payments.
A TP student, Afiqah, said she received one such scam e-mail on Aug 21 at about 2pm.
The e-mail – which was not addressed to Afiqah specifically – claimed she had not paid the tuition fees amounting to S$2,850 (US$2,224) despite purportedly being sent a previous reminder. The e-mail then stated that failure to pay before the deadline would mean “we will have to forward your file to our litigation department”.
She was instructed to settle the payment via a bank transfer to a DBS account number. Proof of payment would then have to be sent to a separate e-mail address that ended with “temasekpolytechnic.online”.
“Once your situation has been regularised, you will receive your result within 2 to 3 days after receipt of your payment. It will therefore not be necessary to contact us again,” the e-mail said.
Students with financial difficulties were invited in the e-mail to “submit a request for financial assistance to the Social Service”, but no contact information given. The “Social Service” will analyse such requests “in complete confidentiality”, it added.
In the e-mail, Afiqah was directed to another scam e-mail address – which also ended with “temasekpolytechnic.online” – if she required any clarification.
“Hoping for a quick settlement, we send you our distinguished considerations, Thanking you in advance,” the e-mail said, with no name attached at the end of the message.
Afiqah, 21, told ST she knew it was a scam when she noticed the e-mail appeared to be sent from another student’s e-mail address.
Knowing that TP has a separate e-mail address for settling finance matters, she said she was confused as to why a student would be sending such an e-mail asking for payment.
ST’s checks showed that the e-mail addresses ending with “temasekpolytechnic.online” were registered to online domain registrar Namecheap. Official TP e-mail addresses have their domains registered with the Government Technology Agency.
Afiqah added that her friends had received the scam e-mail too, and that she had reported it to a staff member, before deleting the suspicious message without making any payment.
Soon after, they received a mass e-mail from TP advising them not to engage with the scammer.
In a media reply, a TP spokesperson said that a police report has been filed and investigations are ongoing.
The spokesperson added that the polytechnic “conducts regular system reviews, implements robust protective measures and provides ongoing education to ensure our community remains informed of the dangers of scam incidences”.
MOE alerted parents and guardians on the Parents Gateway app on the morning of Aug 22, advising them not to click on any unfamiliar links or make any related transfers. Instead, they should delete such suspicious e-mails immediately.
In a media reply, a MOE spokesperson said it is aware of the scam e-mails.
“We advise students and parents to exercise caution when receiving e-mails requesting direct payment, immediate bank transfers or providing payment links outside official student portals,” the spokesperson said.
“Those who have transferred money or provided personal information are advised to file a police report and notify their bank immediately.”
Students should check with their schools directly or call the ScamShield helpline on 1799 if in doubt.
The Straits Times has also seen similar e-mail advisories sent by the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore Management University and Republic Polytechnic to their students on Aug 21 and 22.
NIE, an autonomous institute within NTU, said the university was not affected by the scam e-mails, while it is unclear if any parent or student elsewhere have fallen prey to conmen.
Students of the various institutes of higher learning were advised to pay their tuition fees only through official channels, such as their apps or online portals.
A screengrab of a similar scam e-mail was posted in an online forum, but bearing the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) logo. Both the ITE and TP versions demanded the same amount to be paid to the same bank account, among other details.
In a media reply, ITE’s chief information officer Kravitz Hwang said it received reports of these scam e-mails on Aug 20 and that it did not send them.
ITE has alerted its staff, students and their parents about this scam and advised them not to make any payments.
“A police report has been made, and ITE is working with the authorities to investigate and address this matter,” Hwang said. - The Straits Times/ANN
