The Police have observed at least 189 cases of job scams since January 2022 and would like to alert members of the public to the re-emergence of a variant of job scam where victims would be invited to participate in jobs that would allow them to earn commission through the buying and selling of movie tickets, an action termed ‘boosting’ by scammers.
In these cases, the scammers would befriend victims on messaging applications. These scammers would then introduce victims to purported job offers that would allow them to earn commission through the boosting of movie tickets. Victims who agreed to the job offer would be contacted by a scammer on WhatsApp and directed to a website to sign up for accounts. Victims would be instructed to top up their accounts with money to boost movie tickets to earn a commission. The scammers would then provide victims with bank accounts belonging to unknown individuals for payments to be made. Victims would be convinced that their work was legitimate as their accounts would indicate the commission they received after completing the jobs. Subsequently, the victims would be instructed to continue to top up their accounts to complete more tasks. The victims would eventually discover that they had been scammed when they were unable to withdraw the money from their accounts.
The Police would like to advise members of the public to adopt the following precautionary measures:
- Do not accept dubious job offers that offer lucrative returns for minimal effort;
- Never download applications from unverified sources; and
- Never send money to anyone whom you do not know or have not met in person.
If you have information related 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. Please dial ‘999’ if you require urgent Police assistance.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Join the ‘Spot the Signs. Stop the Crimes’ campaign at www.scamalert.sg/fight by signing up as an advocate to receive up-to-date messages and share them with your family and friends. Together, we can help stop scams and prevent our loved ones from becoming the next victim.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
21 February 2022 @ 12:45 PM