Scammers impersonating MAS officers steal over S$3 million via WhatsApp screen sharing scam
Scammers masquerading as Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) officers have stolen over S$3 million from at least 46 victims since June 2025. The fraud was executed by exploiting WhatsApp's screen sharing function, according to a police statement on 26 June.
The scam begins with victims receiving calls from local numbers. The callers falsely claim to be representatives from organisations such as NTUC Income, NTUC Union, or UnionPay, and allege problems with insurance policies supposedly purchased by the victims.
When the victims deny buying such policies, they are redirected to a second caller. This individual poses as an MAS officer and falsely claims the victim's bank account is linked to money laundering activities.
Victims are then instructed to transfer their money to a 'safe' account—controlled by the scammers—under the pretext of securing their funds during investigations.
To facilitate this, the scammers convince victims to share their phone screens via WhatsApp. This grants the fraudsters full visibility of the victims' banking information, enabling them to guide the victims through unauthorised transfers.
The deception is often uncovered only after the scammers become unreachable or demand further transfers.
The police warned that individuals should never share their device screens with unknown or unverified parties. Doing so could lead to unauthorised access to sensitive banking data and substantial financial loss.
Authorities also reminded the public that no government official will ever request banking credentials, instruct transfers of funds, or ask individuals to install unofficial applications.
Furthermore, calls claiming to transfer a person to the police or other agencies should be treated with caution, as genuine officials do not initiate such protocols.
To protect against such scams, the police advise installing the ScamShield app, which helps to block fraudulent calls and filter suspicious messages. They also recommend contacting banks immediately upon detecting any unusual banking activity.
The Singapore Police Force reiterated the importance of public awareness and digital security, particularly as scams continue to escalate.
In 2024 alone, scam victims in Singapore lost a total of S$1.1 billion, marking a 70 per cent increase compared to the S$646 million lost in 2023. Since 2019, total scam-related losses have surpassed S$3.4 billion.
Additionally, 2024 recorded the highest number of scam reports to date, with 51,501 cases logged.
Police investigations into the latest string of MAS impersonation scams are ongoing. The public is encouraged to report suspicious calls or messages immediately and to refrain from following instructions from unknown callers.
The authorities are also working with telecommunications companies and digital platforms to clamp down on such fraud networks and prevent future incidents.
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Online Citizen
15 hours ago
- Online Citizen
Scammers impersonating MAS officers steal over S$3 million via WhatsApp screen sharing scam
Scammers masquerading as Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) officers have stolen over S$3 million from at least 46 victims since June 2025. The fraud was executed by exploiting WhatsApp's screen sharing function, according to a police statement on 26 June. The scam begins with victims receiving calls from local numbers. The callers falsely claim to be representatives from organisations such as NTUC Income, NTUC Union, or UnionPay, and allege problems with insurance policies supposedly purchased by the victims. When the victims deny buying such policies, they are redirected to a second caller. This individual poses as an MAS officer and falsely claims the victim's bank account is linked to money laundering activities. Victims are then instructed to transfer their money to a 'safe' account—controlled by the scammers—under the pretext of securing their funds during investigations. To facilitate this, the scammers convince victims to share their phone screens via WhatsApp. This grants the fraudsters full visibility of the victims' banking information, enabling them to guide the victims through unauthorised transfers. The deception is often uncovered only after the scammers become unreachable or demand further transfers. The police warned that individuals should never share their device screens with unknown or unverified parties. Doing so could lead to unauthorised access to sensitive banking data and substantial financial loss. Authorities also reminded the public that no government official will ever request banking credentials, instruct transfers of funds, or ask individuals to install unofficial applications. Furthermore, calls claiming to transfer a person to the police or other agencies should be treated with caution, as genuine officials do not initiate such protocols. To protect against such scams, the police advise installing the ScamShield app, which helps to block fraudulent calls and filter suspicious messages. They also recommend contacting banks immediately upon detecting any unusual banking activity. The Singapore Police Force reiterated the importance of public awareness and digital security, particularly as scams continue to escalate. In 2024 alone, scam victims in Singapore lost a total of S$1.1 billion, marking a 70 per cent increase compared to the S$646 million lost in 2023. Since 2019, total scam-related losses have surpassed S$3.4 billion. Additionally, 2024 recorded the highest number of scam reports to date, with 51,501 cases logged. Police investigations into the latest string of MAS impersonation scams are ongoing. The public is encouraged to report suspicious calls or messages immediately and to refrain from following instructions from unknown callers. The authorities are also working with telecommunications companies and digital platforms to clamp down on such fraud networks and prevent future incidents.
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17 hours ago
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3 men charged for alleged involvement in Pokemon card scams; believed to have cheated victims out of $57k, Singapore News
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AsiaOne
2 days ago
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'She's not coming back': Alawite women snatched from streets of Syria, Asia News
DAMASCUS - "Don't wait for her," the WhatsApp caller told the family of Abeer Suleiman on May 21, hours after she vanished from the streets of the Syrian town of Safita. "She's not coming back." Suleiman's kidnapper and another man who identified himself as an intermediary said in subsequent calls and messages that the 29-year-old woman would be killed or trafficked into slavery unless her relatives paid them a ransom of US$15,000 (S$19,000). "I am not in Syria," Suleiman herself told her family in a call on May 29 from the same phone number used by her captor, which had an Iraqi country code. "All the accents around me are strange." Reuters reviewed the call, which the family recorded, along with about a dozen calls and messages sent by the abductor and intermediary, who had a Syrian phone number. Suleiman is among at least 33 women and girls from Syria's Alawite sect - aged between 16 and 39 - who have been abducted or gone missing this year in the turmoil following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, according to the families of all them. The overthrow of the widely feared president in December after 14 years of civil war unleashed a furious backlash against the Muslim minority community to which he belongs, with armed factions affiliated to the current government turning on Alawite civilians in their coastal heartlands in March, killing hundreds of people. Since March, social media has seen a steady stream of messages and video clips posted by families of missing Alawite women appealing for information about them, with new cases cropping up almost daily, according to a Reuters review which found no online accounts of women from other sects vanishing. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria told Reuters it is investigating the disappearances and alleged abductions of Alawite women following a spike in reports this year. The commission, set up in 2011 to probe rights violations after the civil war broke out, will report to the UN Human Rights Council once the investigations are concluded, a spokesperson said. Suleiman's family borrowed from friends and neighbours to scrape together her US$15,000 ransom, which they transferred to three money-transfer accounts in the Turkish city of Izmir on May 27 and 28 in 30 transfers ranging from US$300 to US$700, a close relative told Reuters, sharing the transaction receipts. Once all money was delivered as instructed, the abductor and intermediary ceased all contact, with their phones turned off, the relative said. Suleiman's family still have no idea what's become of her. Detailed interviews with the families of 16 of the missing women and girls found that seven of them are believed to have been kidnapped, with their relatives receiving demands for ransoms ranging from US$1,500 to US$100,000. Three of the abductees - including Suleiman - sent their families text or voice messages saying they'd been taken out of the country. There has been no word on the fate of the other nine. Eight of the 16 missing Alawites are under the age of 18, their families said. Reuters reviewed about 20 text messages, calls and videos from the abductees and their alleged captors, as well as receipts of some ransom transfers, though it was unable to verify all parts of the families' accounts or determine who might have targeted the women or their motives. All 33 women disappeared in the governorates of Tartous, Latakia and Hama, which have large Alawite populations. Nearly half have since returned home, though all of the women and their families declined to comment about the circumstances, with most citing security fears. Most of the families interviewed by Reuters said they felt police didn't take their cases seriously when they reported their loved ones missing or abducted, and that authorities failed to investigate thoroughly. The Syrian government didn't respond to a request for comment for this article. Ahmed Mohammed Khair, a media officer for the governor of Tartous, dismissed any suggestion that Alawites were being targeted and said most cases of missing women were down to family disputes or personal reasons rather than abductions, without presenting evidence to support this. "Women are either forced into marrying someone they won't want to marry so they run away or sometimes they want to draw attention by disappearing," he added and warned that "unverified allegations" could create panic and discord and destabilise security. A media officer for Latakia governorate echoed Khair's comments, saying that in many cases, women elope with their lovers and families fabricate abduction stories to avoid the social stigma. The media officer of Hama governorate declined to comment. A member of a fact-finding committee set up by new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to investigate the mass killings of Alawites in coastal areas in March, declined to comment on the cases of missing women. Al-Sharaa denounced the sectarian bloodshed as a threat to his mission to unite the ravaged nation and has promised to punish those responsible, including those affiliated to the government if necessary. Grabbed on her way to school Syrian rights advocate Yamen Hussein, who has been tracking the disappearances of women this year, said most had taken place in the wake of the March violence. As far as he knew, only Alawites had been targeted and the perpetrators' identities and motives remain unknown, he said. He described a widespread feeling of fear among Alawites, who adhere to an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam and account for about a tenth of Syria's predominantly Sunni population. Some women and girls in Tartous, Latakia and Hama are staying away from school or college because they fear being targeted, Hussein said. "For sure, we have a real issue here where Alawite women are being targeted with abductions," he added. "Targeting women of the defeated party is a humiliation tactic that was used in the past by the Assad regime." Thousands of Alawites have been forced from their homes in Damascus, while many have been dismissed from their jobs and faced harassment at checkpoints from Sunni fighters affiliated to the government. The interviews with families of missing women showed that most of them vanished in broad daylight, while running errands or travelling on public transport. Zeinab Ghadir is among the youngest. The 17-year-old was abducted on her way to school in the Latakia town of al-Hanadi on February 27, according to a family member who said her suspected kidnapper contacted them by text message to warn them not to post images of the girl online. "I don't want to see a single picture or, I swear to God, I will send you her blood," the man said in a text message sent from the girl's phone on the same day she disappeared. The teenage girl made a brief phone call home, saying she didn't know where she had been taken and that she had stomach pain, before the line cut out, her relative said. The family has no idea what has happened to her. Khozama Nayef was snatched on March 18 in rural Hama by a group of five men who drugged her to knock her out for a few hours while they spirited her away, a close relative told Reuters, citing the mother-of-five's own testimony when she was returned. The 35-year-old spent 15 days in captivity while her abductors negotiated with the family who eventually paid US$1,500 dollars to secure her release, according to the family member who said when she returned home she had a mental breakdown. Days after Nayef was taken, 29-year-old Doaa Abbas was seized on her doorstep by a group of attackers who dragged her into a car waiting outside and sped off, according to a family member who witnessed the abduction in the Hama town of Salhab. The relative, who didn't see how many men took Abbas or whether they were armed, said he tried to follow on his motorbike but lost sight of the car. Three Alawites reported missing by their families on social media this year, who are not included in the 33 cases identified by Reuters, have since resurfaced and publicly denied they were abducted. One of them, a 16-year-old girl from Latakia, released a video online saying she ran away of her own accord to marry a Sunni man. Her family contradicted her story though, telling Reuters that she had been abducted and forced to marry the man, and that security authorities had ordered her to say she had gone willingly to protect her kidnappers. Reuters was unable to verify either account. A Syrian government spokesperson and Latakian authorities didn't respond to queries about it. The two other Alawites who resurfaced, a 23-year-old woman and a girl of 12, told Arabic TV channels that they had travelled of their own volition to the cities of Aleppo and Damascus, respectively, though the former said she ended up being beaten up by a man in an apartment before escaping. Dark memories of Islamic State Syria's Alawites dominated the country's political and military elite for decades under the Assad dynasty. Bashar al-Assad's sudden exit in December saw the ascendancy of a new government led by HTS, a Sunni group that emerged from an organisation once affiliated to al Qaeda. The new government is striving to integrate dozens of former rebel factions, including some foreign fighters, into its security forces to fill a vacuum left after the collapse of Assad's defence apparatus. Several of the families of missing women said they and many others in their community dreaded a nightmare scenario where Alawites suffered similar fates to those inflicted on the Yazidi religious minority by Islamic State about a decade ago. IS, a jihadist Sunni group, forced thousands of Yazidi women into sexual slavery during a reign of terror that saw its commanders claim a caliphate encompassing large parts of Iraq and Syria, according to the UN. A host of dire scenarios are torturing the minds of the family of Nagham Shadi, an Alawite woman who vanished this month, her father told Reuters. The 23-year-old left their house in the village of al Bayadiyah in Hama on June 2 to buy milk and never came back, Shadi Aisha said, describing an agonising wait for any word about the fate of his daughter. Aisha said his family had been forced from their previous home in a nearby village on March 7 during the anti-Alawite violence. "What do we do? We leave it to God." [[nid:717511]]
