SINGAPORE: The police have warned about a resurgence of phishing scams impersonating the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) OneMotoring platform.
At least 37 cases have been reported since December 2024, with at least S$407,000 (US$309,000) lost, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in a news release on Monday (Apr 14).
The recent cases involved victims receiving text messages, purportedly from OneMotoring, informing them about unpaid bills.
The messages would contain a link that redirected people to a phishing payment site impersonating OneMotoring. They were then prompted to key in their personal information, credit or debit card details and other sensitive information.
The victims only realised they had been scammed when they discovered unauthorised transactions made to their credit or debit cards.
“Messages from LTA on unpaid road tax bills do not contain payment links to the OneMotoring website or to payment portals,” said the police.
Notifications from the transport authority about a vehicle’s road tax expiry come in three forms – SMSes through the “gov.sg” sender identification, e-letters deposited into the owner’s OneMotoring account, accessible only via Singpass login, or hardcopy letters sent to their registered address.
The police advised that when in doubt, people should always verify the authenticity of the information provided with LTA through its website or hotline number.
In September last year, at least S$28,000 were lost to phishing scams impersonating OneMotoring in less than three weeks.
For those cases, victims received emails, purportedly from OneMotoring, about their vehicles’ road tax or road licence expiry.
