SINGAPORE: The Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Wednesday (Jul 1) warned of cryptocurrency scams that leverage the ongoing World Cup to target victims.
In a news release, the police noted that the scams involve malicious links and unauthorised transactions, and that scammers are increasingly utilising online platforms and messaging services to deceive victims and gain access to their cryptocurrency holdings.
Scammers may create authentic-looking websites advertising World Cup tickets or official merchandise for purchase. The fake websites would offer “exclusive” tickets and direct victims to pay using popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or USDT.
Once payment is made, the goods would not be delivered, but the websites would be taken down. Recovering funds is often challenging, said the police.
Another scam targets victims searching for a way to stream World Cup matches for free. They may be redirected to phishing websites that prompt them to connect their cryptocurrency wallets, make payments or install malware.
These sites can compromise credentials, financial information or cryptocurrency assets, said the police.
“In some cases, AI-generated deepfake content featuring athletes or celebrities has been used to promote such fraudulent platforms, making them appear more convincing.”
The authorities also said that they have observed scam variants involving fake “official World Cup tokens” or fan coins fraudulently marketed as official or team-affiliated digital assets.
“Victims may be misled into investing in these tokens, whose value is artificially inflated before scammers sell off their holdings, causing prices to collapse,” SPF said.
