Singapore chat-group investment scam cost victims S$3.6 million
What's new: Police linked 48 cases since May to fake WhatsApp “mentors” and bogus apps on Apple and Google stores.
Singapore police warned that victims have lost at least S$3.6 million in 48 investment scam cases tied to chat groups since May. In this scheme, scammers used fake social media ads offering free investing lessons, then moved targets into WhatsApp groups where they posed as mentors and showed supposed profit screenshots. Victims were told to open accounts through fraudulent websites or apps downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, then send money to designated bank accounts. In some cases, victims also handed cash or gold to people posing as company staff. Many discovered the fraud only after they could not withdraw their supposed returns or the scammers disappeared.