At least 131 cases in 2025 involved victims surrendering gold bars, and these frauds were reported in government official impersonation scams, insurance services scams and investment scams, according to a recent report by Singapore police, according to The Straits Times.
Gold bars displayed at an event in Singapore on Sept. 15, 2020. Photo by AFP |
Victims were convinced to buy the gold bars and pass them to scammers for “investigation or investment purposes.”
The police said scammers appear to be turning to gold as a mode of payment to circumvent tightened anti-scam measures, including enhanced banking verification processes and improved detection of mule accounts.
Scam losses in Singapore fell to SGD913.1 million (US$723 million) in 2025, as the number of reported cases declined for the first time in eight years, according to police annual statistics released on Feb 25.
A total of 37,308 scam cases were recorded in 2025, down from more than 50,000 in 2024.
E-commerce scams remained the most prevalent scam type with over 6,703 cases.
Pokemon trading cards accounted for 13.6% of all e-commerce scam cases and were the most common item involved.
More than half of the victims in Pokemon card scams were aged between 30 and 49, and 40.8% were between 20 and 29 years old.
The police said scammers capitalized on rising demand for new and exclusive Pokemon trading card releases, as well as rare cards with high resale value.
Government impersonation scams surge
Despite the overall decline in scam cases, government official impersonation scams more than doubled to 3,363, making it the fifth most common scam type.
Nine in 10 of these cases involved victims being duped by scammers posing as local government officials, bank staff or financial institution representatives via phone calls, police said.
Scammers would initially claim there were suspicious transactions on victims’ credit cards or insurance policies, before transferring the calls to fake government officials who accused them of money laundering.
Victims were then instructed to transfer funds to unknown accounts and hand over cash purportedly for investigation purposes.
Job scams ranked as the third most common scam type in 2025, with over 5,500 cases.
A prominent variant involved victims being persuaded to set up online businesses. They were told to create accounts on fraudulent websites and use their own funds to purchase items to fulfill orders.
Commissions were initially paid out, but subsequent orders required increasingly larger payments. Victims were informed that additional sums were needed before commissions could be withdrawn.
Insurance services scams, which did not rank among the top 10 scam types in 2024, placed eighth in 2025.
Cryptocurrency-related losses remained significant, accounting for 20% of total scam losses, with more than SGD182 million lost.
The police said: “It is likely that scammers leverage cryptocurrency because of its irreversible transactions and limited traceability, making asset recovery very challenging for the authorities.”
More than 7,000 money mules and scammers were investigated, and over 940 individuals were charged.
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