Scammers switch strategy to steal thousands of dollars

Scammers are now posing as your favourite social media influencers.

Someone recently sent me screenshots of an Instagram user informing his followers that they had won a contest.

The contest was a scam.

Variant of Singpost scam

Here's what the scammer did.

• Pretends to be a popular influencer^.
• Runs a 'contest' and informs winners publicly.
• Winners must first register to claim their prize.
• Registration page is a variant of Singpost scam.

How does this scam work?

• Get winners to pay a small fee via credit card.
• Authentication SMS will show a different amount.
• Keying in the code makes victim liable for payment.

^By misspelling the first letter as "l" instead of "i".

Legal liability to pay

I had a friend who fell for the original Singpost scam a couple of years ago, via a text message.

The thing is, he was expecting a delivery and was grieving the recent passing of a close family member. He did not notice that the two-factor code specified a payment of €4,000.

When the dust settled and after investigation, the bank offered him an interest-free instalment since he did authorise the payment.

This is similar, but using social media to hijack the trust of a known influencer.

What of this scammer?

When I checked, the URL shown in the original screenshot no longer go to a payment page - it has been taken down.

I also cannot confirm if the person who allegedly paid is an accomplice or a victim. I hope it's the former.

This is a sombre reminder to stay alert at all times.

Pandemic of scams

I wrote last year that we are facing a pandemic of scams, and how even sophisticated, digital-savvy users can be victims.

Singapore is unfortunately the "scam capital" of the world, with scam victims here losing the most money on average, according to a global report last year.

Scammers are exploiting a mixture of human weaknesses, technological loopholes, and the slow pace of investigations to get away.

They attack human weaknesses by:

• Distraction.
• Convenience.
• Scare techniques.
• Greed and/or FOMO.

What steps do you personally take to keep from being snared by scams?