SINGAPORE: The police have received reports of WhatsApp accounts being taken over by scammers, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a news release on Wednesday (Apr 18).
Victims would first receive a WhatsApp message from one of their contacts, whose WhatsApp account might have been compromised. The message asks for WhatsApp account verification codes that the victims would have received through SMS.
"The victims would subsequently lose access to their WhatsApp account once the WhatsApp verification codes are sent to the scammers," the police said.
SPF added that a variant of the scam has been reported overseas where the scammers were known to have used the compromised accounts to deceive the account holders' contacts into purchasing gift cards and sending over the password for the cards.
The scammers then sold the gift cards online.
The police advised members of the public to beware of unusual requests received over WhatsApp, even if they were sent by their WhatsApp contacts.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAnyone with more information on such scams can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or dial 999 for urgent police assistance.
To seek scam-related advice, members of the public may call the National Crime Prevention Council’s anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg.
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