Imagine picking up your phone and seeing this message:

The pic was uploaded on Facebook by Syahana Anasyah on April 3.

Possible responses

Most people would ignore such a clear scam attempt.

More civic-minded people, presumably those without daughters, would make a police report.

But some Singaporeans relished the opportunity to get creative:

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Local or foreign?

Despite the reference to a POSB savings account, some people speculated that the originating phone number is not a local one.

A quick check does confirm that +967 is the code assigned to Yemen.

However, Yemenis use ten-digit phone numbers.

Others pointed out that it could still be a local number.

And others think that this scam could have layers.

Another theory is that this is an attempt to get the actual holder of the POSB account in trouble, because $500,000 is way too much to demand upfront, and the authorities should be able to trace the account holder.

Who knows? But what's quite clear is that this message has been received by lots of people, not all of whom have daughters.

Official warning

The Singapore Police Force issued a public announcement on the scam on April 4:

Here's what the police advised:

Members of the public are advised to adopt the following measures:

a. Remain calm and do not transfer any money as instructed by the SMSes;

b. Contact your loved one immediately to confirm their safety;

c. Do not reply to the SMS. Block and report the number as spam.

Top image adapted from Facebook