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FAST
SINGAPORE: When Christinah Heng answered a call in October from a local number she did not recognise, alarm bells did not ring.
The interior design boss, 53, will pick up local calls because of her line of work. In this instance, the caller, a “Mr Lee” claiming to be from a well-known school, spoke about a possible renovation project.
But the discussion turned to mattresses later, with Lee asking her to order in bulk from a Malaysian-based supplier. He said he could not do it himself because the principal had had a dispute with the supplier.
Then the supplier pressed her to pay upfront and offered a bulk discount along with a S$5,000 (US$3,900) commission.
At the time, she had not had any projects for a couple of months and was worried about her insurance premium and home loan.
Christinah Heng recounting the incident on Talking Point.
Believing the deal was legitimate, she transferred S$7,000 first, emptying the joint account she had with her husband. She later received a screenshot from Lee showing S$73,500 supposedly transferred to her for the mattresses.
“In actual fact, the money didn’t come in,” said Heng, who filed a police report. Investigations are ongoing, but she was told the money could not be recovered.
“Emotionally, I felt I was very stupid,” she said as she lamented being “so careless” and believing the scammer “so easily”.
She had fallen for a SIM card ruse, where overseas scammers disguise their calls with locally registered numbers to avoid arousing suspicions about their legitimacy.
This is part of a broader scam landscape. Even as authorities and telcos worked to block close to 100 million potential scam calls in the first half of last year, victims lost about S$456 million in scams of various types.
So, where are these calls coming from, and how do scammers make it appear as if they are calling locally? The programme, Talking Point, examines the gaps scammers are exploiting and the difficulty in shutting down their calls.
Over the years, many Singaporeans have learnt to be wary of overseas numbers.
But scammers have progressed to using local numbers in “the past one to two years”, said Eugene Lim, an officer in charge of an investigation team in the Singapore Police Force’s Anti-Scam Command.
Initially, scammers abroad spoofed their phone numbers by adding Singapore’s country code, +65.
WATCH: How are scam calls appearing as local numbers? (22:28)
But since 2019, telcos have been working with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to strengthen safeguards, from blocking calls that spoof trusted local numbers such as emergency hotlines to eventually blocking all overseas calls that spoof local numbers.
As police advisories raised awareness and people became more discerning, said Lim, scammers adapted again: By using locally registered SIM cards, their scam calls appear without the +65 prefix.
Scammers know these calls are likelier to be answered, noted Lim. Then they can engage with more potential victims.
Indeed, a Talking Point vox pop found that the shift in tactics is being felt on the ground. “The frequency of scam calls is definitely increasing,” said one member of the public. “It’s becoming really irritating.”
Singaporeans described receiving calls purportedly from banks, recruiters and the police. One woman recalled being told her NTUC Income policy was expiring. But she had no such policy. “That’s why I knew this was a scam,” she said.
Use of local numbers marked a shift in scam callers’ tactics, said Anti-Scam Command’s Eugene Lim.
So, how do overseas scammers get their hands on locally registered SIM cards, which require buyers to present official identification? Through scam mules who sign up for SIM cards and sell them on, according to Lim.
The cards are then transported to scam syndicates operating across Southeast Asia. Police have observed that many of these mules are youths including those aged 15 to 17, who are often lured by the promise of fast cash.
They may be offered between S$10 and S$15 per SIM card, according to Narasimman Tivasiha Mani, 41, co-founder of Impart, a charity that helps vulnerable youths. While that amount may seem small, he said it can add up for teenagers.
Some of them go on to become recruiters and make more money. In one case he encountered, the youth recruiter was earning about S$1,000 a week.
Narasimman said many of the youths are buying SIM cards from small retail shops. By mixing and matching cards with telcos, recruiters can maximise the number of cards one person can buy.
A small retail shop where SIM cards are sold.
In some of the cases he has handled, the youths were able to buy 40 to 50 cards in a month.
“Some of them know that this is a crime,” he said. Others are misinformed that “they’re just giving away their identity, and it hurts nobody”.
If caught, youths may face probation, be sent to a juvenile institution, such as a boys’ home or reformative training centre, be fined, jailed or — following criminal law amendments that took effect on Dec 30 — also caned.
Compared with adults, said Narasimman, the sentences are generally lighter — especially if mules are dealt with in the Youth Courts — and scammers exploit this to draw youths into the trade.
To see how these SIM cards are used once they leave Singapore, Talking Point travelled to Malaysia — where Siraj Jalil, the president of the Malaysia Cyber Consumer Association, showed how they are used with devices known as SIM boxes.
These compact machines can hold multiple SIM cards and are connected to a computer to automate a high volume of calls.
Multiple boxes can be linked to form a SIM farm, enabling scammers to run through hundreds of numbers, said Siraj. Scammers can also switch numbers automatically when one is blocked or tracked by law enforcement.
Alongside the boxes, scammers use GSM (global system for mobile communications) gateways, according to Siraj. The hardware can be installed either within Singapore or in neighbouring locations close enough to connect to Singapore’s mobile networks.
The hardware that scam callers use.
Using their GSM gateways, scammers will then tap into Singapore’s telco networks.
This setup allows overseas calls to appear as local calls on victims’ phones, without the +65 prefix, while helping scammers avoid roaming charges.
“SIM cards play a very important role in scam activity,” Siraj said. “An endless SIM card supply is required for the scam syndicates … to keep scamming people.”
Between April and June last year, police in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong acted against a cross-border scam syndicate that was abusing local mobile phone networks and seized more than 200 GSM gateway devices.
The authorities believe the syndicate is linked to more than 480 scam cases, with losses exceeding S$3.1 million.
• Be cautious of urgency: Scammers often pile on the pressure by citing disputes or time-sensitive requests.
• Verify independently: Contact the organisation the caller claims to be from by using an official number on its website.
• Never share sensitive information: Banks and government agencies will not ask for banking details or one-time passwords over the phone.
• Use phone-level protections: Set calls from unknown numbers to silent mode or to voicemail.
• Use telco safeguards: Consider activating features offered by telcos, like blocking international calls if you do not need them.
Collapse Expand
As for Singapore’s SIM card regulations, there is room to tighten them, acknowledged IMDA director of market policy and regulation Hema Ramnani.
Since 2014, each subscriber has been limited to three prepaid SIM cards across all telcos. These cards are paid for in advance and do not require a long-term contract.
For postpaid SIM cards, the IMDA website states that each subscriber is allowed up to 10 postpaid SIM cards. This is not, however, a limit across all telcos but per telco, Ramnani confirmed with Talking Point.
This means a subscriber could buy more than 100 postpaid SIM cards across multiple service providers. “We’re looking to reduce this significantly on a per-user basis across all telcos,” Ramnani disclosed.
A row of telco advertisements in Singapore.
The IMDA is reviewing the rules based on data from telcos “to see whether there are suspicious SIM card registration activities” and based on what law enforcement agencies “see on the ground”.
While reducing the number of SIM cards per user will not eliminate all scams, it could close a regulatory gap, making Singapore’s anti-scam measures more effective so that it is harder for overseas scammers to pass off as local callers.
Watch this episode of Talking Point here. The programme airs on Channel 5 every Thursday at 9.30pm.
Source: CNA/dp
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FAST
SINGAPORE: When Christinah Heng answered a call in October from a local number she did not recognise, alarm bells did not ring.
The interior design boss, 53, will pick up local calls because of her line of work. In this instance, the caller, a “Mr Lee” claiming to be from a well-known school, spoke about a possible renovation project.
But the discussion turned to mattresses later, with Lee asking her to order in bulk from a Malaysian-based supplier. He said he could not do it himself because the principal had had a dispute with the supplier.
Then the supplier pressed her to pay upfront and offered a bulk discount along with a S$5,000 (US$3,900) commission.
At the time, she had not had any projects for a couple of months and was worried about her insurance premium and home loan.
Christinah Heng recounting the incident on Talking Point.
Believing the deal was legitimate, she transferred S$7,000 first, emptying the joint account she had with her husband. She later received a screenshot from Lee showing S$73,500 supposedly transferred to her for the mattresses.
“In actual fact, the money didn’t come in,” said Heng, who filed a police report. Investigations are ongoing, but she was told the money could not be recovered.
“Emotionally, I felt I was very stupid,” she said as she lamented being “so careless” and believing the scammer “so easily”.
She had fallen for a SIM card ruse, where overseas scammers disguise their calls with locally registered numbers to avoid arousing suspicions about their legitimacy.
This is part of a broader scam landscape. Even as authorities and telcos worked to block close to 100 million potential scam calls in the first half of last year, victims lost about S$456 million in scams of various types.
Related stories:
So, where are these calls coming from, and how do scammers make it appear as if they are calling locally? The programme, Talking Point, examines the gaps scammers are exploiting and the difficulty in shutting down their calls.
“IT’S BECOMING REALLY IRRITATING”
Over the years, many Singaporeans have learnt to be wary of overseas numbers.
But scammers have progressed to using local numbers in “the past one to two years”, said Eugene Lim, an officer in charge of an investigation team in the Singapore Police Force’s Anti-Scam Command.
Initially, scammers abroad spoofed their phone numbers by adding Singapore’s country code, +65.
WATCH: How are scam calls appearing as local numbers? (22:28)
But since 2019, telcos have been working with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to strengthen safeguards, from blocking calls that spoof trusted local numbers such as emergency hotlines to eventually blocking all overseas calls that spoof local numbers.
As police advisories raised awareness and people became more discerning, said Lim, scammers adapted again: By using locally registered SIM cards, their scam calls appear without the +65 prefix.
Scammers know these calls are likelier to be answered, noted Lim. Then they can engage with more potential victims.
Indeed, a Talking Point vox pop found that the shift in tactics is being felt on the ground. “The frequency of scam calls is definitely increasing,” said one member of the public. “It’s becoming really irritating.”
Singaporeans described receiving calls purportedly from banks, recruiters and the police. One woman recalled being told her NTUC Income policy was expiring. But she had no such policy. “That’s why I knew this was a scam,” she said.
Use of local numbers marked a shift in scam callers’ tactics, said Anti-Scam Command’s Eugene Lim.
MULES AS YOUNG AS 15
So, how do overseas scammers get their hands on locally registered SIM cards, which require buyers to present official identification? Through scam mules who sign up for SIM cards and sell them on, according to Lim.
The cards are then transported to scam syndicates operating across Southeast Asia. Police have observed that many of these mules are youths including those aged 15 to 17, who are often lured by the promise of fast cash.
They may be offered between S$10 and S$15 per SIM card, according to Narasimman Tivasiha Mani, 41, co-founder of Impart, a charity that helps vulnerable youths. While that amount may seem small, he said it can add up for teenagers.
Some of them go on to become recruiters and make more money. In one case he encountered, the youth recruiter was earning about S$1,000 a week.
Narasimman said many of the youths are buying SIM cards from small retail shops. By mixing and matching cards with telcos, recruiters can maximise the number of cards one person can buy.
A small retail shop where SIM cards are sold.
In some of the cases he has handled, the youths were able to buy 40 to 50 cards in a month.
“Some of them know that this is a crime,” he said. Others are misinformed that “they’re just giving away their identity, and it hurts nobody”.
If caught, youths may face probation, be sent to a juvenile institution, such as a boys’ home or reformative training centre, be fined, jailed or — following criminal law amendments that took effect on Dec 30 — also caned.
Compared with adults, said Narasimman, the sentences are generally lighter — especially if mules are dealt with in the Youth Courts — and scammers exploit this to draw youths into the trade.
LISTEN: From scams to strokes — What the new law signals for criminal justice
SIM FARMS
To see how these SIM cards are used once they leave Singapore, Talking Point travelled to Malaysia — where Siraj Jalil, the president of the Malaysia Cyber Consumer Association, showed how they are used with devices known as SIM boxes.
These compact machines can hold multiple SIM cards and are connected to a computer to automate a high volume of calls.
Multiple boxes can be linked to form a SIM farm, enabling scammers to run through hundreds of numbers, said Siraj. Scammers can also switch numbers automatically when one is blocked or tracked by law enforcement.
Alongside the boxes, scammers use GSM (global system for mobile communications) gateways, according to Siraj. The hardware can be installed either within Singapore or in neighbouring locations close enough to connect to Singapore’s mobile networks.
The hardware that scam callers use.
Using their GSM gateways, scammers will then tap into Singapore’s telco networks.
This setup allows overseas calls to appear as local calls on victims’ phones, without the +65 prefix, while helping scammers avoid roaming charges.
“SIM cards play a very important role in scam activity,” Siraj said. “An endless SIM card supply is required for the scam syndicates … to keep scamming people.”
Between April and June last year, police in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong acted against a cross-border scam syndicate that was abusing local mobile phone networks and seized more than 200 GSM gateway devices.
The authorities believe the syndicate is linked to more than 480 scam cases, with losses exceeding S$3.1 million.
5 WAYS TO PROTECT AGAINST SCAM CALLS
• Be cautious of urgency: Scammers often pile on the pressure by citing disputes or time-sensitive requests.
• Verify independently: Contact the organisation the caller claims to be from by using an official number on its website.
• Never share sensitive information: Banks and government agencies will not ask for banking details or one-time passwords over the phone.
• Use phone-level protections: Set calls from unknown numbers to silent mode or to voicemail.
• Use telco safeguards: Consider activating features offered by telcos, like blocking international calls if you do not need them.
Collapse Expand
REVIEW UNDERWAY
As for Singapore’s SIM card regulations, there is room to tighten them, acknowledged IMDA director of market policy and regulation Hema Ramnani.
Since 2014, each subscriber has been limited to three prepaid SIM cards across all telcos. These cards are paid for in advance and do not require a long-term contract.
For postpaid SIM cards, the IMDA website states that each subscriber is allowed up to 10 postpaid SIM cards. This is not, however, a limit across all telcos but per telco, Ramnani confirmed with Talking Point.
This means a subscriber could buy more than 100 postpaid SIM cards across multiple service providers. “We’re looking to reduce this significantly on a per-user basis across all telcos,” Ramnani disclosed.
A row of telco advertisements in Singapore.
The IMDA is reviewing the rules based on data from telcos “to see whether there are suspicious SIM card registration activities” and based on what law enforcement agencies “see on the ground”.
While reducing the number of SIM cards per user will not eliminate all scams, it could close a regulatory gap, making Singapore’s anti-scam measures more effective so that it is harder for overseas scammers to pass off as local callers.
Watch this episode of Talking Point here. The programme airs on Channel 5 every Thursday at 9.30pm.
You may also be interested in:
Source: CNA/dp
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