Be on alert for iMessages from scammers posing as the police and Singapore courts
No financial losses have been reported, but the scam pattern has been seen across several channels.
Straits Times warns iMessage users to be cautious of scam attempts impersonating Singapore police and courts. In recent months, there has been a rise in phishing scams targeting users of Apple’s iMessage platform. Scammers have been sending unsolicited iMessages from foreign numbers or email addresses, claiming that the recipient has committed a traffic offence, unpaid parking fee, or failed to settle a court summons.
These messages threaten consequences such as arrest warrants or vehicle impoundment, and direct victims to click a link or reply with a code to "acknowledge" the notice. Upon clicking the link, victims are redirected to a spoofed government portal, where they are prompted to enter their card details, online banking credentials, or a one-time password to "process" the outstanding payment.
Victims only realize they have been scammed when unauthorized transactions appear on their bank accounts. The police have advised the public to verify any traffic offences or court summons through official portals or by contacting the relevant authority directly. They have also advised iMessage users to enable Filter Unknown Senders and Filter Spam functions in their app settings, and report suspicious messages via the in-app reporting function.
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