Synopsis: This is a special-edition podcast series by The Straits Times to raise greater public awareness of the modern scourge of scams in Singapore and globally.

In Singapore, nearly $1 billion has been lost by scam victims since 2016. Mutating and spreading, different types of scams have infiltrated every aspect of our lives, from romance to work. The police are cracking down on offenders. What can you do to protect yourself?

In the series’ sixth episode, ST’s deputy news editor Andre Yeo, crime correspondent David Sun and journalist Jessie Lim speak with Ms Jessica Chen, a policy and escalation manager at Carousell and Ms Lavone Toh, an associate product manager also with the e-commerce marketplace. 

Both of them talked about the emergence of job scams involving the impersonation of Carousell staff and some of Carousell’s safety features, such as pop-up reminders within chats which warn customers when they are eyeing popular items known to have false listings, such as staycation deals.

Highlights (click/tap above):

06:01 How a senior in his 60s showed up at Carousell’s headquarters in Buona Vista demanding to see “Amy”, a scammer who cheated him of $2,000 in a job scam 

12:41 How Carousell removes thousands of suspicious listings every month and tell-tale signs

14:41 New initiatives Carousell has embarked on to tackle scams and how user feedback helps the e-commerce marketplace identify threats 

18:13 How Carousell balances consumer safety and satisfaction, with the launch of the E-Commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings earlier in 2022 

21:45 Why people should not sell their Carousell accounts to other users who can list fake items on them 

Produced by: Andre Yeo (andrey@sph.com.sg), Jessie Lim (ljessie@sph.com.sg), David Sun (davidsun@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Teo Tong Kai and Paxton Pang

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai

Read ST's Stop Scams articles: https://str.sg/wWt9

• Anti-Scam Hotline: 1800-722-6688 (9am - 5pm); https://www.scamalert.sg/

• National Care Hotline: 1800-202-6868 (8am - 12am); https://ccs.org.sg/nch/

Follow ST's Stop Scams podcast series here:

Stop Scams Channel: https://str.sg/wuZB

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/wu3e

Spotify: https://str.sg/wuJj

Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wE7S

SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/

Websites: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg 

Andre Yeo's articles: https://str.sg/wWtC

David Sun's articles: https://str.sg/wWty

Jessie Lim's articles: https://str.sg/wWtF

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Discover more ST podcast channels:

All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 

The Usual Place: https://str.sg/wEr7u 

In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt 

COE Watch: https://str.sg/iTtE 

Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 

Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN 

Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf 

Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m 

Hard Tackle: https://str.sg/JWRE 

#PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad 

Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX 

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ST Podcast website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts 

ST Podcasts YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa 

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Special edition series:

True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T

The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2 

Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn 

Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB 

Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa 

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Get The Straits Times' app, which has a dedicated podcast player section:

The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB 

Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX 

#stopscams