Four people have been arrested in connection with Coldplay and Taylor Swift ticket fraud in Singapore. At least S$223,000 has been lost since January

SINGAPORE, Feb 8 — One man and three women aged between 18 and 27 have been arrested following a recent spate of e-commerce scams involving the sale of fake concert tickets, with at least 583 victims facing approximately It suffered a loss of S$223,000 (RM789,243). Since January of this year.

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In a press release today, police said the scam involved tickets to recent concerts by Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Japanese pop duo YOASOBI, Chinese singer-songwriter Joker Xue, K-pop boy band Enhaipen, and more. announced that he had done so.

Victims only realize they have been scammed when they can no longer contact the scammer, while others only discover their tickets are invalid on the day of the concert.

The four people arrested are accused of assisting these fraudsters by providing them with the means to open fake bank accounts and mobile phone lines in exchange for financial benefits.

Seven other men and four women, including a 15-year-old teenager, are also cooperating with the investigation.

The week-long joint operation was carried out from January 31 to February 6, 2024 by seven police land divisions, the Commercial Bureau, the Carousel Bureau and the Government Technology Bureau.

modus operandi

Police said the scammers’ usual modus operandi was posing as ticket sellers on online platforms such as Telegram, Carousel, Twitter, Facebook and Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.

Victims who express interest in purchasing tickets are redirected to contact the scammers on WhatsApp, Telegram, or WeChat.

In some cases, scammers provided fake screenshots or videos of tickets or ticket purchase receipts.

The scammer promises to email or transfer the tickets to the victim’s Ticketmaster account once the payment is successful. Ticketmaster is an online ticketing platform that was selling tickets for several recent concerts in Singapore.

Police say, “Victims only realize they have been scammed when the seller demands an additional fee, the ticket delivery is delayed, they can’t be contacted, or the ticket turns out to be invalid on the day of the concert.” That’s when I did something.”

I gave up my Singpass credentials to a scammer

Initial investigation by police revealed that the four facilitated the fraud by opening new bank accounts and transferring them to fraudsters, as well as surrendering their Singpass credentials, bank accounts and internet banking credentials. It became clear that there was a suspicion. They allegedly did it for financial gain.

“Abandoned Singpass credentials were misused by fraudsters to open new bank accounts and mobile lines.

“The fraudsters then misused ShinPass credentials and mobile connections to open a Carousel account and create a list of fake concert tickets,” police said.

According to preliminary investigations, 11 other people cooperating with the investigation “unknowingly” facilitated the fraud in various ways.

“Most of them received job offers on Telegram in order to receive money into their bank accounts to purchase Razer gift cards or to facilitate the transfer of money through their bank accounts,” police said. Ta.

A 21-year-old woman was asked to change her Carousel account name and email address. Police said it was determined that the account had been compromised by fraudsters.

Police also said another 15-year-old boy gave his Carousel account to a scammer who offered to top up his in-app wallet.

Police advised the public to: