SINGAPORE – A new type of investment scam has emerged, with fraudsters impersonating representatives of sovereign wealth fund GIC on group chats on messaging platform Telegram.
People would receive a Telegram invitation to join a group chat named “Government of Singapore Investment Corporation”, said the Singapore Police Force on Thursday (April 28).
The scammers running the group chat would claim to be from GIC and offer lucrative investment packages.
To reinforce the ruse, scammers would use the GIC logo and claim to be investors who have successfully withdrawn the profits made from their investment packages.
Those who are keen to invest in the packages are then directed to provide their personal particulars and bank account number to sign up for the packages.
Then they would be asked to transfer money into bank accounts provided by the scammers.
They would realise it is a scam only when they do not receive the expected returns or cannot withdraw their investments.
GIC manages Singapore’s foreign reserves and does not provide any investment services to the public, said GIC in a statement on Thursday.
“Please be forewarned that any attempt to solicit investments from any member of the public using GIC’s name, brand, or both, is a fraud or scam.”
GIC said it is not responsible for transactions that occur as a result of any such fraud or scam, adding that there is existing information on its website (
