You'd think that with news of scams circulating on social media and WhatsApp chat groups, Singaporeans would be alert and savvy enough to avoid falling victim. The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has also constantly put out reminders and advisories to the public about such scams.

However, the SPF's crime statistics for January to June 2016 reveal that there was a 98 percent increase in love scams and 13.4 percent increase in e-commerce cheating when compared to Jan - Jun 2015.

Reaching out to SPF, Mothership.sg found that that over S$27.2m have been lost to scams in over 2,000 scam cases in January to June 2016.

In one case, someone was scammed of S$2.38m by people impersonating China officials. In another, a victim lost S$1.2m in an Internet love scam.

Here are the top 10 most common reported scams in Singapore:

Tough to locate and prosecute scammers

In July this year, the police arrested three Malaysians believed to be behind the prominent DHL scams that cheated Singaporeans of over S$12m between March and June. The arrests were possible because the suspects were in Singapore to withdraw money from a UOB account.

But what about other scammers who operate out of Singapore anonymously? SPF would not have jurisdiction overseas to conduct investigations or make arrests. Unfortunately the reality is that unless scammers are operating in Singapore, money lost to these foreign cheats are as good as gone.

The only defence Singaporeans have to scams is to be alert and skeptical of offers that appear to be too good to be true. Being educated of the various scams is also a good place to start.

Top image from Frederico Cintra

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