Another day, another scam.
About a week ago, we alerted our readers of a Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) credit card scam, where scammers called up unsuspecting Malaysians victims their credit card debt, asking them to report to “Bank Negara” via a phone number they provided.
This time around, an e-mail from someone claiming to be working for Singapore Airlines is making its way into people’s inboxes.
The e-mail was sent at 3am today (Tuesday, 14th June) from e-mail name and address Singapore Airlines Promo at promo@singaporeair.sg. It states that the recipient’s e-mail was randomly drawn from a lucky draw and won “$250,000.00 SGD Winnings” in an “Exclusive Special Bonus program selection”. To make the scam more “believable”, they’ve even fabricated ticket and reference numbers.
It also asks the recipient to contact the dispatch officer in charge, someone named Allen Chong in the “2016 Singapore Airlines program Organising Committee” at sg_airline308@outlook.sg with his/her personal details.
We’ve since reached out to Singapore Airlines for comment as the above e-mail has the makings of a fraudulent scheme designed to allow for an easy identity theft.
But while we wait for Singapore Airlines to respond, here’s a good way to tell whether an e-mail is a scam or not – if you referred to Singapore Airlines’ website, under “Support” (bottom right), the e-mail addresses listed in “Contact Us” ends with a .com.sg, and not .sg as per the above scam e-mail. For example, my_feedback@singaporeair.com.sg (Singapore Airlines’ reservations and ticketing office in Kuala Lumpur), KF_contact@singaporeair.com.sg (Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer Membership Services), or public_affairs@singaporeair.com.sg (Singapore Airlines’
Public Affairs Department in Singapore).
On top of that, this is not the first “airlines promo” scam of the e-mail kind in the recent years. In March 2013, a similar e-mail purportedly associated with low-fare carrier Firefly was sent out to scores of people, claiming to be giving out cash rewards to lucky winners of “Firefly’s Big Apple B’day Promotion Program”. Firefly later sent out an alert via their Facebook page, warning customers and urging them to contact their customer care if unsure of the origins of such e-mails.
Lastly, if G-mail is calling it out as a scam, it’s likely that it is. Gmail’s phishing alerts automatically display warnings (in red, on top of the e-mail) with messages they suspect are phishing attacks so you know to exercise caution before providing any personal information.
UPDATE (14th June, 2:44pm):
Singapore Airlines has since responded to our e-mail. In a statement, the company’s Public Affairs Duty Officer confirmed that the Singapore Airlines Promo (promo@singaporeair.sg) is not from Singapore Airlines and urged their customers to ignore it.
The statement goes on to say:
“Singapore Airlines advises recipients of such emails to exercise discretion when revealing personal data from unverified sources. Recipients should verify such emails and phone calls if they have any doubts. Should recipients wish to verify such calls, please send us the details via this link www.singaporeair.com/feedback and we will get back to you as soon as possible.”
For more information on Singapore Airlines’ advisory on e-mails and phone calls, go here.
