Members of the public often highlight that the best way to prevent scammers from targeting unsuspecting victims is to occupy their time by playing along; for those who have the time to do so, of course.
Local actress Nurul Aini did that and pranked the scammer who was impersonating an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer calling her phone.
Ms Aini posted a video of herself taking the call on Instagram on Sept 14, which has nearly 2,000 likes to date. “Since Halloween is coming…enjoy my scamming the scammer. Again,” she wrote in the caption.
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The entire conversation was conducted in Chinese, involving someone who appears to be a fake ICA officer.
The officer informed her that there was a problem with her Singpass account.
When asked what her name was, Ms Aini said, “Chen De Gui” which is very similar to Zhen De Gui or “a real ghost”.
The man then asked how to spell her name, which Ms Aini entertained and proceeded to say each letter.
Still, sensing nothing was amiss, the man said that her Singpass was restricted, and her passport was under observation.
The actress pretended to panic and asked the man what she should do. She was so good at sounding distressed that the man continued with his explanations for over three minutes.
Towards the end of the video, Ms Aini “revealed herself” and said she “was a ghost” and did not send the suspicious messages the man was referring to.
“I’m a real ghost. I’m coming. I’m coming to find you,” said Ms Aini in a voice that made her fake name proud.
The caller then hung up after being played on.
“We really need an actress to play along with their plots! Hahaha, this video made my day,” commented Instagram user @likelights.sg
On Sept 7, Ms Aini also pranked another scammer, this time a fake Ministry of Health officer. The caller ended the call after she sang Taiwanese singer A-mei’s “原来你什么都不想要” (“Turns out you don’t want anything”). /TISG
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https://theindependent.sg/fake-singpost-website-turns-out-to-be-phishing-scam-requires-users-to-make-payment/