Stomper warns of ‘investment scam’ spoofing Straits Times website
A man is sounding the alarm on a potential investment scam that involves a spoof of The Straits Times’ (ST) website after planning to invest “a few thousand” dollars.
On May 5, Stomper David came across what he believed was an ST article on his Google feed. The article appeared to be about the a fight at Chin Swee Road last November, in which two men were charged for the murder of a 56-year-old man.
David found the story “enticing” — but not for the reasons one might think.
“The article came with a link that connects you to an investment platform page,” David said, showing screenshots of the “article” that contained hyperlinks to Moventix Trading, an investment platform.
The spoofed article also quoted the suspect and other stakeholders talking about the benefits of Moventix Trading. While the article claimed the platform was approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Stomp could not find the platform on MAS’ online directory.
When asked if he found it suspicious that a news article about a murder case would contain links to an investment platform, David grew sheepish.
“If you read the article, you may be enticed to give it a try. Who would not want to earn $100,000 from $1,000?”
He clicked on one of the hyperlinks and was instructed to provide his phone number so that the trading platform could contact him. Within 10 minutes, someone who claimed to be a manager at the company called him.
“I actually paid US$250 (S$316.85),” the Stomper admitted.
Although he was convinced, David decided to verify the article’s authenticity on ST’s website. "To my disbelief, the story on the murder was true, “ the Stomper said. However, he soon realised there were no mentions of trading or investments on the original ST article.
“So it seems the scammer has used the original story and cooked up another story regarding the investment platform,” David said.
The Stomper confirmed that he is now disputing the transactions with his bank and has reported the phone number – that the “manager” called him from – to ScamShield, the government’s scam prevention tool.
Upon reflection, David felt the scammers “cleverly centred” on the “investment fallout between friends” that led to the Chin Swee Road murder.
“That’s why I gave it a try although I intended to invest only a few thousand dollars,” he said.
“I must also add that the AI algorithms part of the story can be really convincing especially when we are at the evolution of this new technology,” David added.
By sharing his experience with Stomp, he hopes to alert the public to this scam so that others will not fall prey to it.
Stomp has reached out to SPH Media and the trading company for comment.
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