BLITZSCALING is a popular concept in the startup world. Entrepreneurs move at lightning speed to build up their operations and capture the market faster than anyone else, with a high-risk-high-reward mindset. It would seem that online scammers have adopted the same playbook.

Take the example of the recent scam making the rounds on classifieds app Carousell. In December alone, at least 1,115 individuals were cheated on the platform by fake buyers, who tricked victims into keying their banking details into spoofed websites. The fraudsters made away with over S$1 million, more than the S$938,000 lost to this scam in the first 11 months of 2022. Rather than hoping to make a windfall from a few individuals, the scammers stole just under S$900 per user on average. According to online posts, victims’ funds were transferred to Thailand from Singapore via the PayNow-PromptPay linkage, which enables instant transfers at a maximum amount of S$1,000 per day.

Clearly, this transaction limit was no impediment to the fraudsters. Like a startup in a competitive industry, they were aiming not for high transaction values, but playing a game of sheer volume. And they moved rapidly, cheating over a thousand sellers before there was widespread awareness of the scam. Carousell and the Association of Banks in Singapore have since been working with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) to try to disrupt the scammers. This includes “adding friction” into overseas transfers made using PayNow. But it appears that there is little recourse for victims. Once funds have been moved overseas, the odds of recovery are very slim. In many cases of online fraud, it is more often the small-time runners who get caught, rather than the kingpins.

What is mind-boggling is how scammers have been able to amass the manpower and resources for such operations. Human trafficking could be at play. A growing number of media reports suggest that scammers run sweatshops to power their fraudulent activity, in some cases even luring in vulnerable individuals with fake job offers and holding them captive. Regional cities such as Cambodia’s Sihanoukville have allegedly become hubs for such sweatshops.

Online scams are no longer just about bad apples, but have evolved into an industrial complex that will be challenging to unravel. The SPF has stepped up efforts to combat syndicates. Last year, it worked together with the Malaysian police to tackle two transnational scam syndicates that had caused losses of over S$1.3 million, having targeted more than 60 victims in Singapore alone.

While such efforts are heartening, the harsh reality is that the odds are in the scammers’ favour, given their sheer numbers and web of international operations. Greater cross-border collaboration among law enforcers, technology investments and the political will to crack down on sweatshops will be needed to cripple these blitzscalers.

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In the meantime, raising more awareness on new variants of scams will be critical. The stigma of being a scam victim needs to be removed, so that more will step forward with cautionary tales. Unless syndicates can be thwarted for good, eternal vigilance will be the price we pay for the conveniences of the digital economy.