SINGAPORE: A fraudulent website has been soliciting investments in Bitcoins by using fabricated comments attributed to Emeritus Senior Minister (ESM) Goh Chok Tong, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) warned in a consumer advisory on Wednesday (Jul 31).
An article on the website referred to statements purportedly made by ESM Goh, who is senior advisor to MAS. The statements were "either false, or were taken out of context and used in a misleading way", MAS said.
AdvertisementAdvertisement"The site asks readers to make a minimum initial deposit of $250 into a purported trading platform, Bitcoin Loophole, which would automatically initiate trades on one’s behalf," added MAS.
"It also requests for credit card or bank account details."
[h=3]READ: 7 cheated of S$78,000 in Bitcoin investment scam - police[/h]MAS advised members of the public to exercise "extreme caution" and avoid providing any financial or personal information on the forms linked from the website.
AdvertisementAdvertisement"Anyone who suspects that an investment could be fraudulent or misused for other unlawful activities should report such cases to the police," the authority added.
This is the latest case involving the fraudulent use of the names and photographs of ministers and other prominent public figures to solicit Bitcoin investments in the past year.
Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also MAS chairman, had false statements attributed to him in a similar case, MAS said in a media release last September.
The release added that the minister had in fact said in Parliament that Singaporeans "could lose their shirts when they invest money in cryptocurrencies", highlighting the high risk involved in such investments.
More information on cryptocurrencies and related investments can be found on the MoneySense website.
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