Singapore— The country’s Manpower Minister Josephine Teo has taken to social media to warn the public of a website that falsely attributes comments to her for the purpose of getting people to disclose their financial details.
On Wednesday (May 15) night, she wrote on her Facebook account,
“The website is highly deceptive and misleading. It mixes some facts about the updated Employment Act to trick readers into believing the whole post. Please be warned that the statements attributed to me about launching the online platform are completely false.”
The manpower minister shared a screenshot of the site which has the following heading, “Josephine Teo on Driving Innovation And Financial Freedom For Singapore.”
Below is a photo of a newsman at a desk, featuring the logo of Channel NewsAsia (CNA) and a photo inset of Teo in front of the flag of Singapore, and a banner that reads “JOSEPHINE TEO CRAFTED A NEW PROGRAM UNDER THE NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT ACT.”
The caption to the photo reads, “(Wednesday, May 15, 2019) – Josephine Teo, a Singaporean politician and current Minister of Manpower, announced that plan shaking up out previous money mind-sets.”
The address of the fraudulent website was not included in Teo’s post.
Teo posted that the website solicits visitors to its page to sign up for an online platform, and then asks them for their credit card or bank details, and a deposit.
She has urged everyone to be very careful with such sites, and not disclose financial or personal information to online platforms, some of which may not be operating within the country.
She then took the opportunity to warn people about the serious consequences of spreading falsehoods online, exlplaining that a innocent person could have lost a significant amount of money if they had believed the misinformation on the fraudulent site.
A week ago, parliament passed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) bill that empowers the government to fight the spread of fake news and hate speech online.
Teo also asked for assistance from the public to inform police if they come across other fraudulent investments or similar activities.
She ended her post by asking the public to share the police’s anti-scam campaign to prevent others from being taken in by these activities.
Here is Teo’s post in full:
“BEWARE OF FRAUDULENT WEBSITE
There is a fraudulent website attributing comments to me in order to solicit users to sign up for an online platform, provide their credit card or bank details and to make a deposit.
The website is highly deceptive and misleading. It mixes some facts about the updated Employment Act to trick readers into believing the whole post. Please be warned that the statements attributed to me about launching the online platform are completely false.
I urge members of the public to exercise extreme caution and to avoid providing any financial and personal information to the online platform, which may be operating outside of Singapore.
The problem of deliberate falsehoods is serious. In this case, someone could have suffered financial losses for trusting the wrong information. Anyone who suspects that an investment could be fraudulent or misused for other unlawful activities should report such cases to the Police.
Help spread the word and share www.scamalert.sgwith your family and friends to prevent them from being a victim. – Jo Teo — in Singapore.”/ TISG
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