At least 16 cases of school fee scams reported in August; $38k lost
Angelica Ang for The Straits Times
At least $38,000 has been lost to a new type of scam involving fake requests for school or tuition fees.
At least 16 cases of such scams were reported in August, and were carried out via e-mails impersonating educational institutions, the police said in a press statement dated Aug 23.
In this variant, scammers use compromised school e-mail accounts to ask victims for urgent and prompt payment of school or tuition fees.
Victims would be asked to make payment to a bank account number listed in the e-mail, or risk facing legal consequences.
Victims would realise that they have been scammed only after checking, or receiving notifications from their schools.
The Straits Times reported on Aug 22 that earlier that month, several compromised e-mail addresses of students from Temasek Polytechnic (TP) were used to send out scam e-mails to other students from the school, asking them to make payments for their school fees.
In the TP case, students with financial difficulties were invited in the e-mail to "submit a request for financial assistance to the Social Service". The email also bore no name on its sign off.
MOE alerted parents and guardians on the Parents Gateway app on the morning of Aug 22, advising them to delete any suspicious e-mails immediately and not to click on any unfamiliar links or make any related transfers.
The police said that members of the public should check with schools via official channels before transferring any money, especially if payment requests are unscheduled.
They should also exercise discretion, and not click on clickable links or QR codes provided by unknown persons to make payments or transfers or download applications, without first verifying their legitimacy.
These can lead to fake bank websites that phish for banking credentials or malicious software, the police added.
For more information on scams, the public can go to http://www.scamshield.gov.sg, or call the ScamShield hotline on 1799.
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