Singapore Police have warned of more phishing scams involving impersonation of courier companies, after at least 43 cases were reported, with losses exceeding S$259,000.
In an advisory issued on Wednesday (July 15), the police said they have received reports of the scam since June 24, with at least 20 reports lodged on July 13 alone.
In this variant of the scam, victims would receive text messages from numbers bearing Morocco’s country code +212, or emails from random alphanumeric addresses purporting to be from courier companies such as Ninja Van and J&T Express.
The messages would claim that a parcel could not be delivered due to an “invalid” address and urge recipients to update their delivery details within 24 hours via a link resembling the courier company’s official website, said the police.
In some instances, the messages also include a local helpline number and direct victims to obtain the phishing link by replying or opening a separate message containing the link.
Victims who click on the link are directed to a spoofed website resembling the courier company’s official site, where they are asked to pay a small “re-delivery fee” ranging from six cents to S$1.64.
They are then prompted to enter their card details and authorise the transaction using their digital banking tokens.
In some cases, scammers add victims’ credit cards to Google Pay or Apple Pay without their knowledge.
Victims typically realise they have been scammed only after discovering unauthorised transactions on their credit cards or bank accounts.
Members of the public can safeguard against scams by using the ACT (Add, Check, Tell) framework.
For more information on scams, the public may call the ScamShield Helpline at 1799 or visit scamshield.gov.sg. The Straits Times
