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It’s no secret that Singaporeans are being taken on sleigh rides all year round by scammers. From the conventional scams we always hear of, to newer ones like the recent third-party app malware scam.
And while the devil works hard, scammers appear to work even harder.
A new scam has recently found its way to many Singaporeans’ coffers—a scam within a scam. Here’s what we mean.
Fake Lawyers Claim to Help Victims Recover Money That Had Been Scammed From Them
Imagine just having been scammed, being at rock bottom, just to be scammed by someone who was supposed to help you recover the money you’d been scammed of.
It’s like a punch to the face, or when the drinks uncle sabos you and gives you kopi o kosong even though you clearly ordered kopi o gah dai.
It just doesn’t feel great lah, hor?
But that’s precisely what has been happening to several Singaporeans.
According to Shin Min Daily News, scammers have been posing as lawyers and anti-scam centres, claiming to offer scam victims a helping hand to retrieve funds that have been scammed from them.
And, no prizes for guessing where these fake lawyers have been springing up—Facebook.
Hais… Perhaps we should ban Facebook as a whole.
These fake lawyers on Facebook usually have merely a few followers, with their Facebook accounts only set up recently.
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They also claim to be employed by our gahmen and have agreements with major banks allowing them to support scam victims in tracing their lost money and recovering it.
But how exactly do these fake lawyers scam even more money from existing scam victims?
When scam victims reach out to these pages for help, the scammers will request the scam victims to send over a copy of their police report made for the “first” scam.
This allows the fake lawyers to attain the personal information of the scam victims.
And as we all know, once your personal information falls into the hands of such malicious actors, it’s all over for you—say goodbye to whatever remaining money you have in your bank account because, congratulations, you’ve been scammed-squared.
Ah… A scam within a scam. Try reading that ten times.
If you’ve been scammed, seek recourse through the proper channels. Whatever you do, do not attempt to recover your money by reaching out to sus individuals on Facebook.
In any event, if you’re unsure whether what you’re looking at could be a potential scam, you can always visit the ScamAlert website to learn more. Alternatively, you could call the ScamAlert hotline at 1800-722-6688.