A new variant of a phishing scam involving the impersonation of familiar names like "iShopChangi" and luxury luggage brand "Rimowa" has led to at least 19 victims with losses amounting to at least S$7,000 in December.
The scam involves Facebook advertisements or posts that would promote branded travel luggage as low as S$4, according to a media statement by the Singapore Police Force released on Dec. 28.
This scam comes soon after the police released another media statement on Dec. 7, where 14 victims have suffered losses amounting to at least S$799, due to scams that masquerade themselves as "Singapore Airlines Travel" or "Singapore Changi".
A special collaboration between "iShopChangi Singapore" and "Rimowa"
The Facebook advertisements use the name of "iShopChangi Singapore" to appear legitimate to their victims when they encounter the cheap travel luggage sales with prices as low as S$4.
Photo via Singapore Police Force
Photo via Singapore Police Force
Some of these posts supposedly promote a special collaboration between "iShopChangi Singapore" and "Rimowa" to celebrate the latter's 125th anniversary.
When the victims click on the advertisement or post, they are redirected to phishing websites which request for their debit or credit card credentials.
Unauthorised transactions are then made to the victims' cards.
On Nov. 12, the official iShopChangi website posted an alert on their Facebook, cautioning their customers that "unauthorised Facebook pages have been impersonating as iShopChangi to run ads to phish for personal data" and to contact them when in doubt.
Police advises to adopt precautionary measures
The police advises the public to adopt precautionary measures to avoid falling for such phishing scams.This include screening for scam messages via the ScamShield app, as well as activating security features such as limits for internet banking transactions and two-factor authentication
They also stressed to tell the authorities and report any fraudulent transactions to the bank immediately once victims realise they have been scammed.
