Synopsis: This is a special-edition podcast series by The Straits Times to raise greater public awareness of the modern scourge of scams in Singapore and globally.

In Singapore, nearly $1 billion has been lost by scam victims since 2016. Mutating and spreading, different types of scams have infiltrated every aspect of our lives, from romance to work. The police are cracking down on offenders. What can you do to protect yourself?

In the series’ seventh episode, ST’s crime correspondent David Sun, business correspondent Claire Huang, and journalist Jessie Lim speak with Fiona Choong, vice president of compliance at cryptocurrency exchange Coinhako.

Ms Choong covers the common kinds of scams involving cryptocurrency and what precautions cryptocurrency users can take against them.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:18 How a man in his 70s fell prey to a ‘tech support’ scam, and how his life savings of over S$400,000 was saved

5:50 Most active crypto customers are in the 20 to 30 age range; risk rules and safeguards covering various ages

11:00 Know-your-client (KYC) and financial literacy standards: How to uphold them, especially in Singapore?

18:20 Are there scams involving cryptocurrency giveaways, also known as ‘drops’, a marketing strategy that involves sending coins or tokens to wallet addresses?

26:40 Constantly evolving products such as non-fungible tokens and Web 3.0 a challenge for compliance officers when detecting scams

28:25 Love scam uncovered: When a man tried to withdraw a large amount of crypto to purportedly buy a piece of property for his ‘girlfriend’

32:07 Measures to take to avoid falling to cryptocurrency scams: how fear, greed and loneliness are exploited by scammers

Read ST's Stop Scams articles: https://str.sg/wWt9

• Anti-Scam Hotline: 1800-722-6688 (9am - 5pm); https://www.scamalert.sg/
• National Care Hotline: 1800-202-6868 (8am - 12am); https://ccs.org.sg/nch/

Produced by: Jessie Lim ([email protected]), David Sun ([email protected]), Claire Huang ([email protected]), Ernest Luis and Eden Soh

Edited by: Eden Soh

Follow Stop Scams podcast series here:

Channel: https://str.sg/wuZB

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/wu3e

Spotify: https://str.sg/wuJj

Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wE7S

SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/

Websites: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Feedback to: [email protected] 

David Sun's articles: https://str.sg/wWty

Jessie Lim's articles: https://str.sg/wWtF

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Discover more ST podcast channels:

All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 

The Usual Place: https://str.sg/wEr7u 

In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt 

COE Watch: https://str.sg/iTtE 

Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 

Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN 

Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf 

Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m 

Hard Tackle: https://str.sg/JWRE 

#PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad 

Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX 

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ST Podcast website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts 

ST Podcasts YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa 

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Special edition series:

True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T

The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2 

Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn 

Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB 

Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa 

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Get The Straits Times' app, which has a dedicated podcast player section:

The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB 

Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX 

#stopscams

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