GUARANTEED: Scams Will Keep Knocking On Our Doors

 

NOT to alarm our readership BUT allow me to quote this statistical data from Singapore wherein for 2024 alone, at least SG$ 1.1 Billion was lost to SCAMS!@#$%?  BTW, we're here NOT to simply copy and paste data previously published.  Yesterday, that was Wednesday, August 20th, WHEN I was in the midst of my work [from home], I saw a missed call from a local mobile phone number.  So, I sent an SMS to inquire as to WHO was the caller.  Then, here comes the call purportedly he's from the Head Office of one of my local bankers!@#$%? 

Within the first minute of the call, he mentioned my full name and he mentioned the last 4 digits of my credit card [which was recently delivered like 2 weeks back].  The caller painted a picture of that legitimate proactive bank service provider WHO will volunteer on something you never asked in the first place.  The caller asked me to check if my card has that 3-digit security code at the back and I said 'BUT OF COURSE'.  He then claimed that that was the 'wrong card' and the bank will send the correct version of the credit card???

That's WHEN I hanged-up the call and pronto, I called my bank's RM [Relationship Manager] WHO then took a swift move to permanently block my credit card WHILE in parallel, she instructed me to formally call the hotline for 'fraud' so that everything will be recorded and appropriate logs are done.  WHAT's surprising with that attempted credit card SCAM to me was 2 things: first, that card was very new and secondly, to date, I never used it for any online transaction.  In fact, since it was very new, I used it just twice [to defray local hospital expenses💥💥💥

And the most shocking surprise that hit me during that 'SCAM' call yesterday was that the caller knew the last 4-digits of my credit card WHICH was fairly new [just 2 weeks old WHICH was never used for any online transaction].  WHAT this tells us is that SCAMMERS are on a rampage all over the place.  In Singapore, WHILE SCAMS totaled SG$ 651.8 Million in 2023, it spiked by 70.6% in 2024, balooning to SG$ 1.1 Billion.  Another insight here, even if you live in a legit First World country like Singapore, NEVER be cocky because you might get hit at your unguarded moments😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  Even with the increasing AI-based stuff, never be confident that if your transactions are NOT AI-related, you are shielded from all these SCAMS.  NO sirrrrrs.  Even as we speak now, e-Commerce SCAMS remain as the top SCAM everywhere and as per statistical data, that is followed by job SCAMS, phishing SCAMS, investment SCAMS and 'FAKE FRIEND' SCAM calls.  YES dude, SCAMS WILL KEEP KNOCKING ON OUR DOORS!@#$%?