SINGAPORE — Among the sea of people dressed as samurais, gun slingers and Disney princesses gathered for an annual Japanese pop culture festival at the Suntec convention centre on Sunday (Dec 29) were a group of men and women wearing the signature blue uniform of Singapore’s police.

But these were no cosplayers pretending to be Singapore’s law enforcers. They were actual officers from the Tanglin Police Division, holding an anti-scam roadshow at the EOY J-Culture Festival that was held on Dec 28 and 29.

Among the types of scams reported in Singapore, e-commerce scams, loan scams, credit-for sex scams and internet love scams remain the key concerns for the police here, they said.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Irene Yong, who heads the Kampong Java neighbourhood police centre’s community police unit, told TODAY that a decision was made to reach out to the cosplay community as they can be especially vulnerable to e-commerce scams.

According to police, there were 1,435 e-commerce scams for the first half of this year, compared to the 1,013 cases in the same period last year — which represents a 42 per cent increase. However, the police did not have data on how many victims of these scams were cosplayers.

“They spend a significant amount of time online where they interact with each other and buy things,” said ASP Yong on Sunday (Dec 29). “So they may come across different forms of online scams.”

COSPLAYERS: TARGET OF E-COMMERCE AND IMPERSONATION SCAMS

As part of their outreach efforts, the police collaborated with three cosplay influencers, who go by the names Yosuke Sora, Maoru and Reikomaru.

The three spoke to some 5,000 visitors over the two-day festival about their experiences with scams through an anti-scam talk show.

The influencers, who are in their 20s, requested to be referred to only by their stage names as they are worried that certain people may breach their privacy if their real identities are known.

Speaking about her own experience of being scammed, Reikomaru told the audience on Sunday that she was once scrambling to put together a Japanese fox demon costume for a party at the last minute.

She said she had been scouring social media markets and e-commerce sites for hours for a missing component, a tail, and was ready to give up when she finally found one listing that only had a single photo.

“There was only one photo on the listing,” she said. “(The caption read) S$8. Quitting cosplay. Fast clearance.”

Desperate to complete her get-up, she made the purchase. Unfortunately, when she collected it, she did not receive her tail but a fried chicken drumstick instead.

Fellow speaker Maoru said she has encountered similar e-commerce listings before, in which seemingly premium products are being sold for cheap. 

“You should be very careful with what you buy online, because if it is too good to be true, it probably is.”

The influencers also spoke about how they have encountered people who tried to impersonate them by making use of their publicly available photos.

In one instance, Yosuke Sora said an unscrupulous merchant from overseas had once used her photo on his site, making it seem as if she was selling a wig on the site, to entice more people to make a purchase.

In another, someone had created a fake profile of her on social media and started adding her friends and requesting money from them.

‘DON’T FALL FOR IT’

Aside from sharing horror stories, the influencers also shared tips on how the cosplay community and general members of public, can protect themselves from e-commerce scams.

Yosuke said one good way is to check a seller’s reviews to see if they have a good reputation.

“It is always good to check if a seller has any prior transactions before your purchase to make sure they are real,” she added.

Comments on a seller’s page are also a good indicator of their reliability, since it will give a sense of how people feel about a product they have purchased from that seller.

Another advice that the trio gave was not to save credit card details online, even though it is convenient.

“Just be mindful that may put you at risk. It might be better to just manually key in (the details) every time you want to buy something,” said Yosuke.

Also on stage with the trio was an officer from the police’s Commercial Affairs Department. Mr Kamal Hakim said to prevent oneself from becoming an e-commerce scam victim, when possible, one should insist on paying only when the item is delivered.

“Make sure it is right in front of you, and do your checks before you make a transfer,” he said.

He added that some scammers have a tendency of showing buyers their identification cards, which may have been illegitimately obtained, to fool people into thinking their operation is legitimate.

“Don’t fall for it, because that’s how they would like to trick you,” he said.

To avoid impersonation scams, Maoru said she always does a thorough background check on people who add her on social media and gets her friends to tell her more about them, if they have mutual connections.

“We are still in the virtual world. We’re not meeting face to face, so we don’t really know who is behind the screen,” she said.

“It's fine to meet new friends and add people online, which is what we do in the community,” Yosuke added. “Just make sure you’re adding the right person.”