There were 1,020 cases of scams on the e-marketplace app Carousell reported between January and June 2018, a 136 percent increase from last year.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said that 88 percent of all e-commerce scam cases happened on Carousell.
Common transactions involved include electronic items, tickets to events and attractions, in particular Universal Studios Singapore.
On the whole, e-commerce scam cases jumped 58 percent from 808 cases last year to 1,277 cases in the first half of this year, according to reports. The total amount cheated also jumped by 43.1 percent – from S$650,000 to S$930,000. – with the largest amount cheated in a single case to be about S$50,000.
The rise in online crime can be attributed to pervasive Internet penetration and the greater prevalence of smartphones among Singaporeans, said SPF.
"Online crimes are particularly challenging to solve because of the borderless nature of the Internet," said SPF.
"A significant proportion of online commercial crimes are committed remotely by foreign syndicates that are hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet. These criminals will continue to find ways to exploit and prey on the vulnerabilities of potential victims."
The police also welcomed the introduction of Carousell's internal payment system, CarouPay, in June this year. "Buyers using CarouPay are protected from e-commerce scams as the payment will only be released to the sellers after the buyers have acknowledged the satisfactory receipt of the items purchased," it said. Hence, SPF encourages customers to make use of such systems when they transact online.
