Police warn against fake Budget2024 infographics; phishing scam offering government assistance

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Police Force issued yet another alert on Tuesday (April 23) regarding a phishing scam involving fraudulent infographics about this year’s national budget.

The modus of the scam works this way: Individuals are sent a Telegram message containing an infographic supposedly from the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Budget 2024. The message contains a phishing link that hooks victims on the website when they are offered verification of their eligibility for Government cash disbursements.

Those who click the link arrive at a fraudulent website that requests victims’ names and Telegram account contact numbers as part of a fake verification process for eligibility for Government assistance.

“Victims who fill in their information and click on the verify button would receive notifications that a new device has attempted to log in to their Telegram accounts,” the police wrote, adding that the fake infographic would then be forwarded to other Telegram users in the victim’s contact list and they would be added to unknown Telegram group chats purportedly related to investment opportunities.

The police also wrote that MOF will only disseminate information through its official channels and that the public should note that messages sent by the ministry via SMS will only inform citizens of their benefits.

“Members of the public will not be asked to reply to the SMS, click on any links, or provide any information to the sender,” the police added.

Everyone is advised to add the ScamShield App for protection against scam calls and SMSes and implement security features, including setting transaction limits for internet banking transactions, enabling Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), and setting security features to protect their social media accounts from being taken over, such as only allowing their contacts to add them to group chats.

The public can also check for scam signs through official sources such as the ScamShield WhatsApp bot @ https://go.gov.sg/scamshield-bot, calling the Anti-Scam Helpline on 1800-722-6688, or visiting www.scamalert.sg.

Everyone should also look for the “.gov.sg” URL on government websites. Websites that appear to be government websites but do not contain “.gov.sg” may be verified by checking the list of government-associated websites available on https://www.gov.sg/trusted-sites

Fraudulent Telegram channels may be reported by tapping on the channel’s name and clicking on the “… more” option, clicking on “Report,” selecting the appropriate option and following the instructions for reporting.

Information on Budget 2024 and the various support measures may be accessed at www.singaporebudget.gov.sg. /TISG

Read also: Police: 191 victimised in Lucky Draw scam; over S$500K losses