Bitcoin fraudsters are misusing the names of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his deputy Tharman Shanmugaratnam to tout investments, prompting a warning from the premier.
“Scammers have used DPM Tharman’s and my name to solicit Bitcoin investments,” Lee said in a tweet on Saturday evening. “Don’t believe everything you see on the Internet!”
Lee in a Facebook post used the crypto example to highlight how the city-state is attempting to tackle the issue of “fake news.” A parliamentary committee last week called for new rules including giving the government greater powers to curb the spread of online falsehoods and getting tech companies to comply.
Two fraudulent websites trumpeting get-rich-quick Bitcoin schemes used fabricated comments attributed to Shanmugaratnam, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said last week. Shanmugaratnam, who’s also chairman of the city’s central bank and financial regulator, had in February warned that Singaporeans could “lose their shirts when they invest in cryptocurrencies.”
A screenshot of the website, released by MAS late on Tuesday, shows an article with the headline “Tharman Shanmugaratnam Invests $1 Billion for All Singapore Resident. USE HIS Method To Become Rich in Just 7 Days!”.
The article, which was accompanied by a photo of Mr Tharman, describes the MAS chairman as a “venture capitalist” who announced Singapore’s entry into the bitcoin cryptocurrency market.
The site then asks readers to sign up for a bitcoin account and requests for a credit card or bank account details.
Source: Bloomberg.com, channelnewsasia.com