Scammers took over $230m in cryptocurrency in 2024; one victim lost $125m in fake interview ruse

SINGAPORE – Almost a quarter of the $1.1 billion lost to scams in 2024 involved cryptocurrency, with one victim losing $125 million in cryptocurrency funds in a malware-enabled scam.

Police said the man clicked on a fake interview meeting link and was asked by scammers to run a script on his laptop, which turned out to be a malicious code that targeted his cryptocurrency wallet.

He only knew he was scammed after discovering cryptocurrency transactions that he had not authorised.

Police said cryptocurrency losses accounted for about 24.3 per cent of total scam losses, a surge from the 6.8 per cent recorded the previous year.

In releasing the annual scam statistics on Feb 25, police said victims in four cases lost a total of $237.9 million in 2024.

Three of the cases involved cryptocurrency losses.

One of the victims lost $33.8 million after falling for a phishing scam. The loss accounted for more than half of the $59.4 million scammers stole in 8,552 phishing scam cases in 2024.

Police said the victim had chanced upon an advertisement offering lucrative rewards while browsing on a legitimate cryptocurrency wallet application.

The ad turned out to be a phishing scam, which redirected users to a third-party site resembling a legitimate company.

Police said the victim scanned a QR code on the site and keyed in cryptocurrency wallet login credentials.

Another victim who suffered cryptocurrency losses fell for a social media impersonation ruse.

The victim made cryptocurrency transfers while under the impression that he was communicating with a company director he thought he knew on Telegram. He lost more than $21 million.

His loss accounted for the bulk of the $26.4 million scammers took in 2024 through various social media impersonation ruses across 728 cases.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Feb 25 that it has restricted marketing and advertising of cryptocurrency services in public areas and introduced consumer protection safeguards.

“MAS has been strongly cautioning against trading and investments in cryptocurrencies by the retail public, given their lack of intrinsic value, volatile prices and highly speculative nature, and has been conducting regular public education on this,” added its spokesman.

“The risks are even higher if members of the public are dealing with unregulated entities. They could well be fraudulent. Members of the public should always check whether entities they want to deal with are licensed by MAS.”

• Nadine Chua is a crime and court journalist at The Straits Times.

Join ST’s WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.