Police, IRAS See Sudden Swell in Phishing Scams This July

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) have seen an unforeseen rise in phishing scams, with at least 51 individuals falling victim to scammers this July alone, according to a joint press release yesterday.

The victims, who were targeted by scammers through SMSes, have lost a total amount of at least S$37,000.

The police and the IRAS detailed how the scams occurred, with individuals first receiving unsolicited SMSes from a sender with "IRAS" in the name. The individuals are then told to complete their tax review through a link in the message.

Once clicked, the link would send the victims to a fake login page of Singpass for them to enter their ID and password.

From there, the victims would be brought to another fake webpage that resembles an IRAS website and then to a spoofed login page of a bank.

"The victims would then be requested to enter their Internet banking credentials and OTPs received on their mobile phones. Victims would only discover that they had been scammed when they were notified of unauthorised transactions made from their bank accounts," the release read.

The police and the IRAS advised the public to remain vigilant against such scams by following security measures such as updating their details on Singpass and enabling notifications on the app for suspicious activity on your account.

Reports of issues with one's income tax status must be verified on IRAS' official website, as IRAS does not send SMSes with links asking for one's log-in information.

The public was also reminded to make sure that the Singpass website domain they are using bears a "lock" icon in the address bar. The official URL link is singpass.gov.sg

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