SINGAPORE: On Tuesday (Sept 17), the Singapore Police Force issued a warning about a new scam where fraudsters have been impersonating the OneMotoring site.
According to a CNA report, at least eight cases of this scam variety have occurred since the beginning of this month. The victims of these schemes have lost at least S$28,000.
OneMotoring is a Singapore government agency website under the Land Transport Authority where the LTA’s digital services and traffic updates may be accessed. The site also has other important information, including bidding for COE prices.
Across the top of the site’s landing page is a warning across a red banner: “There are calls, emails, and SMSes claiming to be from LTA and requesting payments being circulated.
Messages from LTA do not contain payment links, and SMSes are only sent from the ‘gov.sg’ sender ID. Please report to the bank and/or Police if you encounter such messages.”
The new variant works this way: Scammers send emails that pretend to be from OneMotoring, telling recipients of the expiry of their vehicles’ road tax or road license.
CNA reported the Police as saying that the emails contained a malicious URL embedded behind a legitimate-looking hyperlinked text. This served to deceive the recipients into thinking it was a safe link.
After clicking on it, the recipients would be redirected to a phishing payment website impersonating the OneMotoring site. Once there, they would be asked for the registration numbers of their vehicles, as well as their personal information, and credit or debit card details.
This allowed scammers to make transactions using the cards. When the victims discovered the unauthorized transactions on their cards, they would realize that they had fallen prey to scammers.
The Police explained that the LTA does not notify vehicle owners of expiring road tax by sending emails.
Instead, people are informed of road tax expiry for their vehicles only through the following ways: letters mailed to the vehicle owner’s registered address, e-letters sent to the vehicle owner’s OneMotoring account, which cannot be without a Singpass login, and SMSes containing the “gov.sg” sender identification.
Furthermore, as the banner on the OneMotoring site says, when LTA sends messages, these do not contain payment links. The public is urged to send information concerning scams to the Police at 1800-255-0000 or via www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.
Alternatively, people may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg. /TISG