If you think we’ve got it bad, think again because many other countries experience similar situations.

A huge jump from last year

Mothership Singapore reported that the Singapore Police Force (SPF) has received at least 1,188 reports of social media impersonation scams in the first six months of 2020.

There were only 83 such cases were reported in the same period last year.

The report said the amount of money cheated also increased from S$726,000 (about RM2.2 million) in the first half of 2019 to S$2.8 million (abount RM8.5 million) this year.

A news release from SPF said the social media impersonation scams usually involved imitating the victim’s friends using fake WhatsApp, Facebook or Instagram accounts.

Using the method, the scammers will trick the victims to reveal their credit card information and one-time password (OTP).

If you don't already know, you should never, ever give anyone your OTP.