Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

At least 20 reports of a new phishing scam involving unpaid Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) tolls were made in the past week, said the Singapore police on Oct. 18.

About S$22,000 was lost to the scams.

Unpaid bills or fines

Victims would receive text messages, purportedly from the Land Transport Authority (LTA), informing them of overdue bills or unpaid tolls.

The messages would urge them to click on the embedded links to complete payment and avoid further penalties.

Some messages would also appear to be sent from "ERP".

Upon clicking the link, victims would be directed to a fraudulent LTA website and asked to key in their credit or debit card details or One-Time Passwords (OTPs).

"Victims would subsequently discover unauthorised transactions made to their credit or debit cards," the police added.

Safeguarding SMS as communication channel

To further safeguard SMS as a communications channel, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced on Oct. 14 that organisations that use SMS sender IDs have to register with the Singapore SMS Sender ID Registry (SSIR) by January 2023.

Telecom operators will also implement SMS anti-scam filtering solutions within their networks to automatically filter potential scam messages before they reach consumers, IMDA said.

Don't click links in text messages

The police advised members of the public not to click on links in unsolicited text messages.

They should also verify the authenticity of the information with official sources or websites, and avoid disclosing personal or Internet banking details and OTPs.

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit this website, or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688.

Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online here. All information will be kept strictly confidential.

Related stories

Top image courtesy of SPF.