Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has urged the public not to respond and fall for online scams, fake news or ads featuring his image, but to report them to the police instead.

In a Facebook post dated July 22, PM Lee also shared a screenshot of a fake ad, which masquerades as a legitimate news site.

This particular ad, which falsely claims that PM Lee endorses cryptocurrency investments, was previously circulated around April 2022, but seems to have resurfaced recently.

Such scams are common after major speech or announcement

In his post, PM Lee noted that his pictures tend to turn up on such ads after a major speech or announcement, which generates significant media coverage.

"Scammers will capitalise on this and use my image to run crypto scams and fake ads," he wrote.

However, he asserted that these messages are definitely not endorsed by him.

"If the ad uses my image to sell you a product, asks you to invest in some scheme, or even uses my voice to tell you to send money, it's not me," PM Lee added.

He said that he was made aware of the recent rise in scams and fake ads featuring his face by "alert Singaporeans" who wrote in.

Subsequently, PM Lee came across such fake ads himself while surfing the internet, and reported them to the relevant teams.

'Report them to the authorities': PM Lee

PM Lee said that those who come across scams, fake news or ads should not respond to them.

Instead, he advised them to report the scams via the official ScamShield Bot on WhatsApp (https://go.gov.sg/scamshield-bot).

And for those who have fallen victim to an online scam, they could lodge an online police report at go.gov.sg/police-report.

"Let us do our part by staying vigilant against scams," Lee concluded in his post.

Not the first time scammers used PM's image

In April 2022, cryptocurrency articles featuring PM Lee, similar to the one in his recent post, were circulated online by scammers.

The police warned that these are usually paid online advertisements that use clickbait headlines and redirect users to a different website offering investments in trading cryptocurrencies or other financial products.

Those who provide their contact details on the website would typically receive calls from people "claiming to be representatives", the police added.

Also, in March 2020, false personal emails claiming to be from PM Lee were circulated, requesting the 'contribution and thoughts' of Singaporeans regarding the Covid-19 situation.

Lee denounced the emails as a 'phishing scam' intended to obtain respondents' personal information, and lodged a police report against them.

Top image from Lee Hsien Loong on Facebook.