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If you've received an SMS from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board regarding your ElderShield policy, do not be alarmed for it is not a scam.
CPF Board has confirmed that the SMS is legitimate.
Here's what it looks like.
Photo from Mytrustedadvisory / FB
Check the website domain of the link
According to The Straits Times, the message is meant to notify CPF members that they have been enrolled in CareShield Life, and hence, their ElderShield policies are being terminated.
One Facebook user shared that when he clicked the link in the SMS and signed in with his SingPass, the website reportedly crashed.
CPF Board explained that this was due to a high volume of people trying to access the CPF website at the same time on April 22, crashing it for a short time a result.
The website issue has since been resolved.
A CPF Board spokesman told ST that there was no particular reason why it chose to notify its members of the termination of their ElderShield policies on that day.
To determine if a link in an SMS is legitimate, individuals can check if the website domain ends with a "gov.sg".
Alarm bells
The message rang alarm bells in the heads of many on Friday.
This wariness follows the spate of OCBC phishing scams in December 2021, where victims were fooled into clicking links to phishing websites.
Considering that banks have moved to disallow clickable links in emails or SMSes, this could explain why many believed the SMS from CPF Board to be something of a more sinister nature.
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Top photo from Mytrustedadvisory / FB and Ye Chen Nathalie / FB