SINGAPORE – At least 10 scam cases have led to Singaporean travellers to Malaysia losing at least $24,000, after the victims received text messages seemingly sent by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA), said the police on Feb 10.
The ruse involves the victims receiving an SMS with the “LTA” sender ID asking users to settle unpaid tolls. Victims clicking on the link to pay the “tolls” would be redirected to a phishing website that sought their banking details for payment.
Radio DJ Gao Yixin said in a Feb 9 Facebook post that she nearly fell victim to the fraud. She said she had clicked a link in a text claiming to be from LTA and was prompted to pay a sum of around $3.50, only to be charged $23,000 on her credit card. Gao said she halted the transaction and cancelled her card, averting the five-figure hit.
The police said in their statement that the LTA sender ID was decommissioned in July 2024 and is no longer in use, so any text messages from the ID are fake.
However, scammers can spoof the LTA sender ID from overseas even though it has been retired from use, said the LTA. Some phones may also group scam messages with earlier, genuine LTA messages using the old sender ID.
Fake SMSes seemingly from Singapore’s LTA that sought payment from potential victims for “unpaid tolls”.
PHOTOS: HOWARD ONG/FACEBOOK, RAY TAN/FACEBOOK
Phone users are advised to avoid clicking any links or attachments in SMSes or sharing personal information to dubious senders, said LTA. It added that current official LTA texts are sent from the gov.sg sender ID and will not contain links asking for payment.
Outstanding payments or information on traffic fines can be found on the
One Motoring website
, said the police.
In Facebook groups featuring discussions about cross-border travel between Singapore and Malaysia, a number of users said they received texts claiming to be from LTA when they were at locations close to the Johor Bahru checkpoint, including JB City Square and R&F Mall.
This scam variant is a re-emergence of a method that previously surfaced in the past year, when LTA warned the public against falling for texts
asking for payments for road-related fees
. Some drivers also reported receiving the fake messages as far back as in 2022.