The Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) of the Singapore Police Force, in collaboration with four partnering banks, have leveraged Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology to identify job, investment and other scam victims. Employing a proactive approach, the ASC promptly alerts potential scam victims through SMS notifications, mitigating the risk of further financial losses. The partnering banks are DBS Bank, UOB Bank, OCBC Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

Throughout the collaborative operation conducted between 16 September and 31 December 2023, the Police and its partnering banks sent out more than 48,000 SMSes to over 15,000 scam victims who are customers of the banks. This resulted in the successful disruption of over 5,300 ongoing scams and prevented potential financial losses of more than $69.43 million. 

RPA Technology

The joint operation is part of the continued efforts by the Police and its partnering banks to safeguard bank customers and mitigate victims’ losses through innovation. RPA technology has enabled the Police to automate information sharing, information processing, and the mass distribution of SMS alerts. The collaboration between the Police and its partnering banks has also significantly improved their outreach to promptly alert a larger number of victims within a short period of time and prevent further losses. Many of these victims only realised that they had fallen prey to scams after receiving SMS alerts from the Police, advising them to immediately cease further monetary transfers.
ACT Against Scams
The Police urge members of the public to “ACT” against scams. The ACT acronym outlines how members of the public can Add security features, Check for signs, and Tell the authorities and other about scams.

1. ADD – Add security features such as the ScamShield application and two-factor authentication for personal accounts, such as banks, social media, and Singpass accounts. Transaction limits for internet banking, including PayNow, could also be set up to limit the amount of funds that can be lost in the event of a scam. 
   
2. CHECK – Check for potential signs of a scam by asking questions, fact-checking requests for personal information and money transfers, and verifying the legitimacy of online listings and reviews. Take the time to pause and check. If it is too good to be true, it is probably untrue, and a scam.
   
3. TELL – Tell the authorities and others about scam encounters by reporting to the bank, ScamShield, or by filing a Police report. Tell others about ongoing scams and preventive steps they can take. Report the fraudulent pages and/or monikers to the respective platforms.

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential.

The Police have arrested a 25-year-old man for his suspected involvement in a case of snatch theft.

On 8 January 2024 at about 7.15am, the Police were alerted to a case of snatch theft along Marine Terrace, where an unknown man had purportedly snatched a handbag from a female victim. 

Through ground enquiries and with the aid of images from Police cameras, officers from Bedok Police Division established the identity of the man and arrested him within seven hours from the time of the report. The stolen handbag was recovered and seized as case exhibit. 

The man will be charged in court on 10 January 2024 with the offence of snatch theft under Section 356 of the Penal Code 1871. The offence carries an imprisonment term of not less than one year and not more than seven years, and caning.

The Police will not tolerate such brazen acts of crime and will spare no effort to apprehend such offenders and deal with them in accordance with the law.

The Police would like to alert members of the public to a job scam variant where scammers impersonating as representatives of well-known platforms or online marketing companies, would entice victims by giving them commission for the completion of simple social media tasks to generate social media traction. In December 2023, at least 180 victims have fallen prey, with losses amounting to at least $2.6m. 

Approach 1 

In this scam variant, victims would receive unsolicited job offers from scammers after being added into chatgroups on WhatsApp or Telegram. In some cases, scammers may also claim to represent TikTok or online communications/marketing companies when they approached victims with job offers. Victims would be given tasks involving generation of social media traction. To perform these task, victims will be asked to follow influencers’ accounts on TikTok or Instagram, liking and subscribing to YouTube channels/videos, boosting accounts by following/liking/commenting on accounts and/or posts, or liking songs on Spotify. Upon completion of the “tasks”, the  victims would receive a small commission. After victims were convinced that they could earn more commission, the scammers introduce more rewarding tasks to perform. In some cases, scammers would provide victims with fake employment contracts to reinforce the deception. To perform these tasks, victims had to create accounts on scam websites and then transfer increasingly large sums of monies to bank accounts or crypto wallets provided by the scammers. Victims would only realise that they had been scammed when their website account showed a negative account balance, and they were told to pay additional funds in order to “upgrade their accounts” or when they failed to withdraw their “earnings”. 

Approach 2

Victims would receive unsolicited WhatsApp or Telegram messages, claiming that they had “won a giveaway” prize and would receive a small commission by completing “easy tasks” such as following an account on Instagram. After victims were convinced that they could earn money easily, scammers would introduce them to advanced tasks. Victims would be added to chatgroups where tasks involving generation of social media traction or transfer of monies as “investment” would be discussed. Victims would have to create accounts on scam websites and transfer monies to bank accounts or crypto wallets provided by the scammers. These are done with the pretext of earning higher commission. Victims would only realise that they had been scammed when they encountered a negative account balance on their job website and were told to pay additional funds to “upgrade their accounts” or when they failed to withdraw their “earnings”. 
 
The Police would like to advise members of the public to adopt the following precautionary measures: 

1. ADD – ScamShield App to protect yourself from scam calls and SMSes.  Set security features (e.g. set up transaction limits for internet banking transactions, enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Multifactor Authentication for banks and e-wallets). Do not send money to anyone whom you do not know or have not met in person before.
   
2. CHECK – For scam signs with official sources (e.g. ScamShield WhatsApp bot @ https://go.gov.sg/scamshield-bot, call the Anti-Scam Helpline on 1800-722-6688, or visit www.scamalert.sg). Always verify the authenticity of job offers through official channels/sources and do not accept dubious job offers that offer lucrative returns for minimal effort. Do not engage or believe claims made in any messaging app group chats that you are randomly added or invited into and do not click on suspicious URLs or download apps from unknown sources. 
   
3. TELL – Authorities, family, and friends about scams. Report the scammers or group chat using the in-app reporting function to WhatsApp and Telegram! 
   

If you have any information relating to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!

Are Singaporeans generally rude/entitled?

Was dining at genki, a couple ordered ice cream parfait. I guess the cup toppled when the train was making its turn (although tbh, all the contents remained inside and it was still edible, just have to pick up the cup).

Could already see the guy getting abit agitated (which I’m sure he’s entitled to, no problem, wanted to take a photo of the parfait)

I think the server noticed it and returned the train immediately. Subsequently a server came out and passed them the parfait.

To be honest, could have been the same parfait from before, couldn’t really tell, but in my POV, still totally edible and within the limits of proper food presentation.

Guy totally flips out and raises his voice at the waiter “OI, THIS IS HOW YOU SERVE FOOD ONE AH?” In a super condescending tone.

At this point my partner and I feel super sorry for the waiter, not really his fault also. Which made us think, are Singaporeans generally this easily ticked? Why did he have to be so rude to the waiter unnecessarily?

Netizens’ comments

1. Instead of NS, should make all Singaporeans work in F&b for 2 years.
   Then u see the real Singapore.
2. You can find rude people in all corners of the world. But, from my (limited) experience, I find that people do tend to be a bit more impatient (snappy/rude) in faster paced societies.
3. Wait till you work in healthcare. Even more entitled patients and their entitled next of kins to deal with.
4. Because the polite ones never make a ruckus.
5. Everyone should work in F&B, retail or any service-related jobs for at least a month.
6. I think Singaporeans, especially older aunties tend to be a more unforgiving lot. Something about how they treat service staff / construction workers / domestic helpers. Very short fuses and poor tone, as if they were talking to a child.