Website uses 'highly deceptive, misleading' information attributed to PM Lee Hsien Loong to solicit investments: MAS

Website uses 'highly deceptive, misleading' information attributed to PM Lee Hsien Loong to solicit investments: MAS

SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has cautioned the public about a website soliciting investments in bitcoins by using fabricated comments from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Information on the website is "highly deceptive and misleading", said MAS on Friday (Aug 16), adding that comments on the fake website attributed to PM Lee are completely false. 

The website is also designed to look like it is linked to Singapore Press Holdings.

MAS said: "The site tries to get readers to provide credit card or bank account information. It also asks for payments into a purported bitcoin trading platform, which would automatically initiate trades on the client's behalf."

The public is advised to exercise "extreme caution" and avoid providing any financial or personal information on the forms linked on the website, it added.

"Anyone who suspects that an investment could be fraudulent or misused for other unlawful activities should report such cases to the police."

A screenshot provided by MAS showed the website had claimed that PM Lee, in his National Day message on Aug 9, revealed a new "wealth loophole".

This is false, the authority said.

Since September 2018, MAS has issued at least four consumer advisories on such fraudulent websites that use the names and photographs of ministers and other prominent public personalities in Singapore to solicit bitcoin investments.

The public figures included Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

Other personalities whose identities have been used for such websites include local billionaire Peter Lim and local TV actor Shaun Chen.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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