The Monetary Authority of Singapore warned the public about a website using fabricated comments from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to solicit investments in bitcoin.
The website not only used fabricated comments but also attempted to impersonate a news page from a local media organization, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) added.
The information on the website is highly deceptive and misleading. The statements attributed to PM Lee are completely false, said MAS in a media statement last Friday. The site tries to get readers to provide credit card or bank account information, plus payments into a trading platform, which would automatically initiate trades on the client’s behalf.
Members of the public are advised to exercise extreme caution and avoid providing any financial or personal information on the forms linked from the website, MAS added. Members of the public who suspect that an investment could be fraudulent or misused for other unlawful activities should report such cases to the police, the regulator said.
Since last year, MAS has issued at least four consumer advisories on such fraudulent websites that use the names and photographs of ministers and other prominent people in Singapore to solicit bitcoin investments. The ministers included Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.