In the last couple of years, the number of cases of people being scammed online has risen gradually, and as the number of people become increasingly connected to the online world, so are the number of scammers. Scam cases, from online dating scams, winning lottery scams, free credit card scams, and of course the Nigerian prince who wants to send millions of dollars to your bank account scams are some of those that have been hitting innocent victims the most. Although many such reported cases are published online and on paper, many are still falling victims to such malicious incidents. Recent news by Channel News Asia reported that Singaporeans have been the main target of online scams and GET REAL even published a documentary about the victims of cyber/online scams.

This presentation aims to share and discuss on the growing threat industrial complex driven by cyber crime and specifically cyber scams. An analysis will be shared on the countries (Nigeria, China, Philippines, India) involved, how advanced social engineering has helped evolve the techniques and modus operandi used by cyber scammers, the impact it has made in Singapore and why Singapore has been a huge target in South East Asia.