SINGAPORE – At least 13 people have fallen victim to a new kind of job scam since January, losing more than $38,000 in total, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Monday (March 7).
Victims were lured to work for commission by reviewing travel-related material.
They would first receive unsolicited messages from scammers, who claimed to be job recruiters, on messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
The scammers would claim to be recruiting for jobs that offer high commission for reviewing travel attractions and packages.
To reinforce the ruse, scammers would pretend to recruit for a legitimate travel company, Anywhr.
Victims who expressed interest in the jobs were instructed to sign up for accounts on the spoofed websites provided by the scammers.
They were required to top-up their accounts with money in order to review the attractions and earn commissions.
The scammers would provide victims with bank accounts belonging to unknown individuals for payment to be made.
Victims would initially be convinced that their work was legitimate as they were able to withdraw the commissions and would thus continue to top up their accounts as directed by the scammers.
Victims would only realise that they had been scammed when they could no longer withdraw money from their accounts.
The police advised members of the public to take precautionary measures against scammers by not accepting dubious job offers promising lucrative returns for minimal effort and always verifying the job offer with the company.
They are also advised to not send money to anyone they do not know or have met in person.
Those who have information related to such crimes can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam hotline at 1800-722-6688.
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