Police warn of Johor-Spore housing subsidy scam
BNB Diviyadhaarshini for The Straits Times
The police have warned the public to be wary of a scam involving a Johor-Singapore Housing Subsidy Initiative.
In this scam variant, victims would come across advertisements such as "JBSG Housing Subsidy Program" or "Free Homes Across the Causeway" on online platforms such as Facebook about an alleged collaboration between the Singapore and Johor governments to provide subsidised housing, said the police in a statement on Sept 4.
These advertisements would contain embedded links for interested parties to apply. The links will direct victims to the messaging platform WhatsApp where they will communicate with the conmen, they added.
A link would also be given to victims to enter their personal information, such as their Singapore identification number, residential address and e-mail address, among others.
In some cases, the victims were asked to conduct online transfers of funds for legal and stamp duties to the scammers, or to physically hand over cash to an unknown person, said the police.
In one incident, a document with forged signatures of the prime ministers of Singapore and Malaysia was also used, the police added.
"The police would like to inform members of the public that the information on this initiative is untrue and the provision of personal information could be fraudulently used to perpetrate scams," said the statement.
The police also urged members of the public to not provide personal information to unknown people, and to not transfer funds or hand over other valuables to them.
Close to half a billion dollars was lost to scams in the first half of 2025, with almost 20,000 cases reported in Singapore.
The $456.4 million lost between January and June 2025 was a drop from the $522.4 million lost during the same period in 2024.
Around 1,000 victims lost more than $100,000 in the first half of 2025, up from around 700 during the same period in 2024.
Cryptocurrencies formed a considerable proportion of scam losses, accounting for more than $81 million in the first half of 2025.
