Singapore has seen quite a few scams recently.

Just take a look at these:

In 2019, victims in Singapore lost a staggering S$168.1 million to the top 10 scams perpetrated by scammers.

Here’s the thing about scams, they come in many different forms.

There are online purchase scams, loan scams, internet love scams and social media impersonation scams. The list is actually non-exhaustive, as can be seen here.

And they’re all equally dangerous.

To show you how prevalent scams are, I took to Mothership’s Instagram page to gather real life experiences from Singaporeans.

Here’s a compilation of some of the worst ones:

1. Tricked by an ad

Instagram user @thuilin_ came across an online advertisement for a photo printing service which intrigued her as they had a special one dollar deal.

She found the deal enticing enough and signed up for it.

While signing up, they asked for her bank account number and she shared it with them.

After paying the one dollar, she received a “receipt” and noticed that something was off about it.

So she checked her bank statement and found that the amount deducted was a lot more than one dollar.

In desperation, she called her bank to stop the transaction, but the bank said that they couldn’t do anything.

They could only terminate her card.

By then, two withdrawals from her account had been made and she had lost S$170 in total.

2. Carousell scam

Like many BTS fans, Instagram user @yuanxling took to Carousell after tickets for the concert sold out on the official site.

Fortunately, someone messaged her saying that he was selling a Category 1 ticket.

Unfortunately for her, he was lying.

The seller had asked for full payment in order for her to “secure” the ticket.

She transferred S$150 to him.

They then discussed when to meet but every time she asked, he claimed that he wasn’t free.

After one month of exchanging messages, he still refused to meet.

She sensed something amiss and asked for a refund, which he agreed to.

But after three months, she still had not gotten her money back.

He eventually stopped texting her altogether — and she never received the ticket.

3. Fake friends

One anonymous Instagram user was scammed by someone she thought she could trust.

She met someone online and they became friends.

The “friend” requested to talk to her via Whatsapp, so she shared her number.

However, this “friend” then claimed that Whatsapp was asking for a password verification.

She checked her phone and received a text with a password.

Thinking nothing of it, she shared the password.

Soon after that, the “friend” asked for another password.

That was when she sensed that something was wrong.

She immediately blocked the person’s number.

But she found out the next month that she had been charged an extra S$15 on her phone bill.

4. Fake tech support

Instagram user @xuanming_._ only wanted to watch a movie online.

He didn’t expect to lose S$150.

While watching his movie, a pop-up ad appeared saying that his laptop was infected with a virus.

He couldn’t close the ad, so he thought it was real.

He called the “Microsoft technician” that the ad posted and transferred the money required to fix the problem.

He only realised that it was a scam a day later.

5. Catfished by a product

Instagram user @haziqnoorazmi was searching for a whitehead remover online.

He eventually found one he liked and paid S$34.99 for the product.

When it was delivered to him, however, the product ended up being a mini torchlight.

So yes, he paid nearly S$35 for a small torchlight.

Sad.

6. Airpods

A victim of another Carousell scam was Instagram user @jeenayew.

She saw someone selling airpods and was interested to purchase it.

She messaged the seller, who said that the airpods cost S$135.

The seller also claimed that the airpods were brand new and authentic.

She believed the seller and transferred payment to him.

After the transaction, the seller stopped replying to her messages.

When he did reply, it was only to ask for more money.

By then, she knew it was a scam so she stopped replying to him.

She didn’t receive the airpods and never got her money back.

7. Phishing email

Instagram user @cheryleryl had received an email from Apple, saying that she had to make some transactions.

Since it was apparently from Apple, she thought that it was real and did what she was told.

Unfortunately, she found out the hard way that it wasn’t the real Apple company that emailed her.

She lost S$5,000 in total.

8. Took a quiz from an ad

Instagram user @ughsteffi saw a “Test Your IQ” quiz on a Facebook ad and decided to try it for fun.

Once she finished the quiz, they claimed that she had to pay money to get her results.

She didn’t want to so she exited the page and moved on with her life, thinking nothing of it.

But a month later, she received multiple emails and texts saying that she owed a company money for taking the quiz.

She lodged a police report immediately.

Although she did not suffer any financial loss, the police told her that the company was a Singapore-based debt collection agency that has scammed many other Singaporeans before.

Other victims received emails stating that the company would sue them if they did not pay up.

9. Gift card compromised

While purchasing an item online, Instagram user @qjsioz was forced by the seller to pay using her iOS gift card.

She did as she was told and gave the seller her gift card’s code.

After that, the seller went MIA.

She never received her item and she found out that her gift card had been used.

10. Bonus story

Besides our Instagram followers, one Mothership writer also suffered a similar fate.

She was in a Telegram group called ‘Singapore Freebies’.

In the group, people got rid of their items for free and others could take them, but they had to pay for the shipping and handling fee.

She saw a pair of leggings that she wanted.

The seller asked her to transfer S$2 for shipping, so she did.

The next day, her entire Telegram conversation with the seller was gone.

When she went back to the Telegram group, she found out that more than 50 other people faced the same situation with the same person.

She got off lucky though because she only lost S$2, others weren’t as fortunate as her.

Better Internet campaign

With all these scams happening around us, it’s vital to learn how to defend yourselves from fraudulent activities.

Here are some precautions you can take:

1. Do not open suspicious texts, pop-up windows or click on links/attachments in unsolicited emails. Delete them immediately.
2. Never share your passwords and bank account/credit card details on messaging platforms.
3. Review your privacy and security settings on social media. If you use social networking sites, such as Facebook, be careful who you connect with and learn how to use your privacy and security settings to ensure you stay safe.
4. Be careful when shopping online. Beware of offers that seem too good to be true, and always use an online shopping service that you know and trust.
5. Take note of unusual payment requests. Scammers will often ask you to use an unusual payment method, including preloaded debit cards, gift cards, etc.

For more tips on safeguarding yourself while online, check out the Better Internet Campaign, the Media Literacy Council’s (MLC) flagship campaign to champion media literacy in Singapore.

Centred around the message: “Be Safe, Be Smart, and Be Kind”, the campaign’s theme of ‘1 Click Away’ expounds on the power behind a simple click to drive positive internet practices.

This is to encourage everyone to embrace conscious, discerning, and empathetic online actions in order to create a safer, smarter, and kinder internet for all.

You can also refer to MLC’s website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates on the campaign.

Top photo by Issouf Sanogo via Getty Images.

This sponsored article by the Media Literacy Council made the writer check online seller reviews ten times to make sure they are legit.