Singapore Police Force (SPF) warned member of the public of scams involving fake Lazada campaigns offering prizes.
The Police stated that it has received at least 14 reports of scams since January 2019.
According to the police, the victims were contacted by the scammers on Instagram with the total amount cheated was at least S$14,000.
In these case, scammers would impersonate as the victims’ friends or followers on Instagram. They would then ask the victims for their contact numbers and photos of their credit or debit cards on the pretext of helping them to sign up for a fake Lazada campaign to win money.
Victims were also told to share the One Time Passwords (OTPs) of their bank accounts. They eventually realised that they were cheated after discovering unauthorised card transactions on their accounts.
The police noted that the common campaign names cited by the scammers, who are misusing Lazada’s brand, include “Lazada Campaign”, “Lazada Raffle”, “Lazada Gift Money” and “Lazada Lucky Draw”.
A Lazada spokesperson commented in a statement to TOC regarding the matter, saying that customer safety is its top priority.
Lazada is in no way associated with these scams, the spokesperson stressed.
“All our campaigns and contests are only held on our website, app, and official social media accounts. We would like to remind customers to only conduct transactions on our platforms; never via third-party channels,” he added.
The police advised members of the public to adopt the following crime prevention measures:
- Don’t be impulsive, beware of unusual requests from strangers or even your social media contacts;
- Don’t believe, be wary of claims that you have won a prize, especially if you have not participated in any campaign or lucky draw. Always verify the authenticity of the request by contacting your friend, but do not do so through the social media platform as the account might have been taken over by scammers;
- Don’t give, do not transfer money or give out your personal information, credit/debit card details and bank account details to strangers.
If members of the public wish to provide any information related to such scams, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. For urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.
To seek scam-related advice, you may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg.