Scammers are already recruiting people into an employment scam where victims are allegedly earning a commission by booking hotel rooms using phony Halloween Horror Nights tickets as bait. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and a British company are working together to increase the visibility of sunshine.co.uk, a hotel booking website, among the victims.
Scammers initially get in touch with them on the Telegram messaging service and offer them complimentary tickets to Universal Studios Singapore in exchange for their phone numbers.
Halloween Horror Nights are celebrated yearly at Universal Studios Singapore, one of Resorts World Sentosa’s (RWS) attractions.
Another con artist receives these details and uses them to send the victims bogus tickets via email before posing as marketers for sunshine.co.uk.
The con artist then informs the victims that hotels hire marketers like themselves to raise occupancy rates, increasing the hotel’s appeal.
The con artist urges the victim to register for an account on a website they claim is associated with the booking website sunshine.co.uk in order to become a part-time marketer and make money.
According to STB, which responded to questions from The Straits Times, there are no promotions or offers associated with the site, and the company takes the situation seriously.
RWS stated that it has reported the fraudulent tickets to the police. It added: “We remind consumers to be vigilant against such offers and against divulging personal information to unknown persons.”
Customers were advised to always purchase tickets directly from the company’s website, at the hotel, or from trustworthy travel agencies.
ST responded via Telegram to one of the con artists’ messages to learn more about the fraud.
