SINGAPORE: A website has been masquerading as the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) website and phishing for personal information, said MOM in a Facebook post on Tuesday (Jun 16).
The fake website - EP Online - PEPOLENQM007 - Requester's Particulars - is one of several that the ministry has uncovered. All of them have "similar but different URLs", said MOM in a note on its website.
AdvertisementAdvertisementTo determine the authenticity of an MOM website, the public can look at its domain name.
"Official MOM websites and eServices’ URLs will always contain '.mom.gov.sg'," said the ministry.
It listed some examples of fake websites that it has found:
AdvertisementAdvertisement"These looked very similar to our official URL, but do not have '.mom.gov.sg'.
"Some may even try to embed '.mom.gov.sg' into their URLs but their domain name won’t end with '.mom.gov.sg'," said the ministry.
Such fake websites may even "try to look official and mimic the official MOM website", it added.
(Image: MOM)
(Image: MOM)
MOM in its Facebook post said it will continue to look for such fake websites and take them down.
"We also remain committed to keeping the official MOM website unaffected and your data safe," it added.
There has been a spike in the number of phishing scams, with a 30-fold increase in the number of cases reported in the first five months of 2020, compared to the same period last year.
The rise occurred in particular during the COVID-19 "circuit breaker" period, during which 151 cases were reported between Apr 7 and May 7.
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The fake website - EP Online - PEPOLENQM007 - Requester's Particulars - is one of several that the ministry has uncovered. All of them have "similar but different URLs", said MOM in a note on its website.
AdvertisementAdvertisementTo determine the authenticity of an MOM website, the public can look at its domain name.
"Official MOM websites and eServices’ URLs will always contain '.mom.gov.sg'," said the ministry.
It listed some examples of fake websites that it has found:
AdvertisementAdvertisement"These looked very similar to our official URL, but do not have '.mom.gov.sg'.
"Some may even try to embed '.mom.gov.sg' into their URLs but their domain name won’t end with '.mom.gov.sg'," said the ministry.
Such fake websites may even "try to look official and mimic the official MOM website", it added.
MOM in its Facebook post said it will continue to look for such fake websites and take them down.
"We also remain committed to keeping the official MOM website unaffected and your data safe," it added.
There has been a spike in the number of phishing scams, with a 30-fold increase in the number of cases reported in the first five months of 2020, compared to the same period last year.
The rise occurred in particular during the COVID-19 "circuit breaker" period, during which 151 cases were reported between Apr 7 and May 7.
Let's block ads! (Why?)
More...