SINGAPORE - At least 10 scam cases have led to Singaporean travellers to Malaysia losing at least $24,000, after the victims received text messages seemingly sent by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA), said the police on Feb 10.

The ruse involves the victims receiving an SMS with the “LTA” sender ID asking users to settle unpaid tolls. Victims clicking on the link to pay the “tolls” would be redirected to a phishing website that sought their banking details for payment.

Radio DJ Gao Yixin said in a Feb 9 Facebook post that she nearly fell victim to the fraud. She said she had clicked a link in a text claiming to be from the LTA and was prompted to pay a sum of around $3.50, only to be charged $23,000 on her credit card. Gao said she halted the transaction and cancelled her card, averting the five-figure hit.

The police said in their statement that the LTA sender ID was decommissioned in July 2024 and is no longer in use, and any text messages from the ID are fake.

However, scammers can spoof the LTA sender ID from overseas even though it has been retired for use, said the LTA. Some phones may also group scam messages with earlier, genuine LTA messages using the old sender ID.

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