Singapore's financial regulator warns of bitcoin investment fraud
Publication:
BIScom Subsection:
Wednesday, 19 September, 2018 - 00:00
It takes something of a cheek to solicit investment in a fraudulent scheme and to publish a website with comments falsely attributed to the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore who also happens to be the country's deputy prime minister. But as MAS has warned, that's exactly what someone is doing...
It has come to the attention of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that a fraudulent website has been soliciting investments in Bitcoins using fabricated comments attributed to MAS Chairman and Deputy Prime Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
The website’s article on Bitcoins is highly deceptive and misleading. The statements attributed to DPM Tharman are completely false, apart from his observation that trading volumes in cryptocurrency are low in Singapore.
The site asks readers to sign up for a Bitcoin account and requests for credit card or bank account details. Members of the public should exercise extreme caution and avoid providing any financial or personal information on the forms linked from the website.
Putting money in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoins is highly risky. MAS issued a warning notice on 19 December 2017 to warn the public of the risks of cryptocurrency investments. DPM Tharman had in fact stated in a reply to a Parliamentary Question on 5 February 2018 that Singaporeans “could lose their shirts when they invest money in cryptocurrencies”.
And, as if that wasn't bad enough, just hours later, MAS issued a second warning about a copycat website
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