To avoid falling prey to such scams, police advise members of the public to never accept suspicious job offers that promise lucrative returns for minimal effort. — Technology phone photo created by jannoon028 - www.freepik.com
SINGAPORE: A variant of the job scam has emerged with victims promised payment for rating apps, a ruse that has seen at least 43 victims lose about S$781,000 (RM2.50mil) since April, said the police on Tuesday (Aug 30).
Mid-year crime statistics released on Monday showed that job scams were responsible for more than S$58mil (RM185.78mil) in losses in the first six months of the year.
In the latest variant, victims were approached by scammers on online messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, and told that they had an opportunity to earn commissions simply by rating apps.
After accepting the offer, the victims were prompted to create an account using a website link, and to top up the account by transferring money into bank accounts maintained by unknown individuals.
The equivalent of USDT, a form of cryptocurrency, was then reflected in the victims’ accounts.
Following this, they were allowed to start rating apps, which cost some USDT each time.
When the cryptocurrency in the accounts was depleted, the victims were instructed to top up their accounts again with more cash.
At the start, the victims were convinced of the legitimacy of the work, as they would be able to withdraw their earnings.
Eventually, they realised they had been scammed when they could not withdraw their commissions.
To avoid falling prey to such scams, police advise members of the public to never accept suspicious job offers that promise lucrative returns for minimal effort.
They should also not download apps from unverified sources, and avoid sending money to unknown people.
A total of 14,349 scam cases have been reported this year, almost double the 7,746 cases reported in the same period last year.
Victims suffered S$346.5mil (RM1.10bil) in losses to all scams in the first half of this year, more than half of the S$633.3mil (RM2.02bil) lost in the whole of last year. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network
