This is obviously a scam but such ads are all over social media platforms.
This one is from Instagram.
Clicking a link in the ad, which is disguised as a news report, will lead you to a fake Channel NewsAsia site.
The fake site says “During a live broadcast on CNA, a significant scandal unfolded between Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, and former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, moderated by veteran host Steven Chia. In a heated debate, both SM Goh and former PM Lee challenged PM Wong’s bold claims, which were broadcast live to thousands of viewers across Singapore.” The text will compel readers to read on, and long story short: reading on will lead the gullible – and often, greedy – to “invest” in some schemes, purportedly the same bullshit that is supposedly the reason for the big argument between Prime Minister Wong and Senior Minister Goh and former Prime Minister Lee, who is shown looking sick, in a wheelchair.
People in Singapore have lost shitloads of money to scammers yet these ads proliferate on social media.
Local news reports say that the scam situation here has worsened, with the number of cases increasing by 16.3%, and victims losing a record high of over S$385.6 million in the first six months of 2024.
If the trend continues, scam losses could exceed S$770 million by the end of 2024.
The annual record stands at S$660.7 million lost in 2022.
According to the police’s mid-year scam and cyber-crime statistics released in August last year, the number of cases in the first half of 2024 increased by 16.3% to 26,587, a new record high, from 22,853 during the same period in 2023.
Victims in 2024 lost more than S$385.6 million, a 24.6% increase compared with the $309.4 million lost in the first half of 2023.
In 86% of the cases, the scammers did not gain control of the victims’ accounts but had manipulated them into transferring money to the criminals.
Ads like the one shown here are designed to do precisely that.
I wrote a letter to the press about this, but they did not publish it.
Is it because Temasek has invested billions in tech shares, including in Meta, the owner of Instagram?
In any case these diabolical scammers should be stopped and those behind these heinous scams should be given the ancient Chinese punishment of death by a thousand cuts.