Letter To The Editor: How Scammers Exploit Human Weaknesses

Dear Editor,

I read with sadness and indignation about The Independent Singapore news, “Single mother loses S$80,900 in job scam” and “Bank officers prevent elderly man from losing thousands in love scam” (Oct 10).

Nowadays, internet scammers are good at exploiting human weaknesses, such as greed, ignorance, carelessness and solitude, to carry out scams that cause innocent people to suffer financial loss and emotional pain.

In today’s digital context, scammers’ tactics are becoming increasingly diverse and sophisticated. For example, they use money and sweet empty promises as bait for deliberate manipulation in online shopping, social networking, dating sites and job search websites, or other platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp and messaging to lure potential victims.

To avoid and prevent such scams, we should raise our awareness and stay vigilant by firmly rejecting any monetary or emotional enticements on online marketing, unofficial job platforms and unreliable network sites for dating.

Most importantly, don’t download or open unreliable, doubtful, illegitimate internet links and websites. Don’t provide your personal details and banking information, such as your private bank account number, password, credit card information or contact number, to anyone, especially strangers.

In addition, authenticate the requester’s identity and website as and when necessary.

Teo Kueh Liang (Mr)

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of The Independent Singapore.

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