Scammers now acting as children of S'pore parents on WhatsApp to ask for course funds, at least S$18,000 lost in a month - Mothership

Scammers impersonated students to deceive their parents.

At least S$18,000 has been lost to social media impersonation scams involving payments of fake youth exchange programmes via compromised WhatsApp accounts.

At least eight cases have been reported since September 2026.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) released an advisory on Sep. 28 to alert members of the public against this scam variant.

In this scam variant, scammers would gain access to students’ WhatsApp accounts to impersonate them, police said.

They would pose as the students and contact the students’ parents, claiming that they have been selected for a youth exchange programme or AI-related course.

They would then claim that payment was required to secure a place.

To lend credibility to these claims, victims were provided with consent forms bearing different institutions and agencies’ names and logos, police said.

Some victims were told that the fees are subsidised and will be refunded.

The victims will also be told to make payment through a PayNow QR code.

Some were also asked to make additional payments, as the scammers claimed that the initial payment had been processed incorrectly and would be refunded.

SPF said the victims only realise they have been scammed after verifying these requests with their children or receiving alerts from their banks.

At least eight cases have been reported since September 2026, with losses amounting to at least S$18,000.

The police asked the public to take precautionary measures, including enabling two-step verification on WhatsApp and checking for scam signs with official sources such as the ScamShield Helpline (1799).

Suspected scam victims should also contact their bank immediately to report and block any fraudulent transactions, and lodge a police report.