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SINGAPORE – Mr. Lin (not his real name) was unfamiliar with investing. But last December, a woman he befriended on Facebook encouraged him to open a business account and introduced him to a broker she knew.
Trusting her, he invested much of his life savings into the account twice since January 1.
“I wanted to earn a little more because of the pandemic,” said Lin, who works in the food and beverage industry. But two weeks later, they told him that his trades had failed and that he owed the broker about $ 53,000.
“I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat,” Lin said. “These are savings that I have saved little by little, working over the years.”
Last Thursday night (January 28), Mr. Lin was baking cookies for the Chinese New Year when he was contacted by the Singapore Police Anti-Scam Center (ASC).
It was then that he learned that the broker’s bank account to which he had transferred nearly $ 50,000 had been investigated for an investment scam.
Lin was one of more than 200 victims who found out they had been scammed in the course of an ASC operation.
During the three-day operation from Wednesday through Friday, ASC officials worked with banks to intervene in scams involving fake investments and gambling platforms. Together, they tracked fund transfers from suspicious accounts, contacted the victims who made the transactions, and advised them to stop any further transfers.
Many of them were completely unaware that they had been scammed, police said.
From 2019 to 2020, investment scams increased 126 percent to 1,102 cases, and victims lost at least $ 69.5 million.
Fake gambling platform scams have also risen 1,800 percent to 299 cases in 2020 from the previous year, with losses totaling $ 15.4 million.
In addition to social media sites, scammers also often cultivate victims through online dating platforms.
One of the victims is Mr. Gan (not his real name), who was introduced to a trading platform by a woman he met on the dating website Tinder. He invested a total of $ 1,200 on January 16 and 17, and was later told that he had to pay $ 2,000 in tax to withdraw his earnings.
That’s when the alarms sounded, and his suspicions were confirmed when the ASC called him last Friday.
“There is no such thing as easy money,” Gan said, reflecting on his experience. The 38-year-old added that although he was skeptical, the offer was “very tempting.”
In investment scams, victims often make an initial profit on the investment, leading them to believe that the investment is legitimate and lucrative. Once larger amounts are deposited into scam artists’ accounts, the scammers will become uncontactable.
In fake gambling platforms scams, victims are often convinced that the introduced online gambling platforms have loopholes that would allow them to make easy profits. However, your accounts on the fake platforms would be frozen later and more money would be needed to collect your winnings. The scammers would also become uncontactable afterwards.
Currently, 76 men and 22 women, ages 17 to 59, are being investigated for their alleged involvement in 359 investments and bogus gaming platform scams. The suspects allegedly aided the unions by opening bank accounts or transferring money to the union.
Those convicted of cheating can be fined and jailed for up to 10 years, and those involved in money laundering can be fined up to $ 500,000 and imprisoned for up to 10 years.
Victims of fake gambling platform scams may also be liable for crimes under the Remote Gaming Act. They can be fined up to $ 5,000 and jailed for up to six months.
“The police would like to remind the public to be cautious when making friends with strangers on any social media or dating platform,” said Sunny Wee, Senior Investigative Officer Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP).
The police also recommended consulting with a licensed financial advisor before making any investment and dealing with companies licensed and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Those with information about bogus gambling platform scams or investments should contact the police hotline at 1800-225-0000 or visit the I-Witness website.
For more information on scams, visit the ScamAlert website or call the Scam Hotline at 1 800-722-6688.
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