MP Saktiandi Supaat warns of fake social media accounts impersonating him

Another Member of Parliament has been hit by fake social media accounts impersonating him.

On Sunday, Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Saktiandi Supaat alerted followers to several fake accounts on Instagram using his profile photo and versions of his name.

“Please be careful and do not interact with them if they message or pm text you... My real account is @saktiandisupaat,” he said in a Facebook post.

Checks by The Straits Times found at least three Instagram accounts and a Facebook account impersonating Mr Saktiandi. Two of these accounts were created in September.

Mr Saktiandi told ST that his friends and followers on Instagram had been informing him via message of these fake accounts since Saturday.

“The impersonators had contacted them via text messaging to get in touch. So far it’s mainly Instagram, but if I’m not mistaken, there was one Facebook account. I’ve reported about three to four accounts with different permutations of my name to Instagram and Facebook,” he said.

The MP for the Toa Payoh East constituency said he has not made a report about these accounts to the police as none of the followers who contacted him have been scammed.

When asked if he will be doing more to safeguard his accounts from impersonators, Mr Saktiandi said most of his authentic accounts already have a blue tick from Meta to verify his identify. The paid service confers a blue tick to users when it verifies the account user’s identity through various means, including the requirement of a Government ID.

He said: “What I can do is to change my profile photo and wording on my posts so my authentic account looks different. There’s only so much you can do because my account has to be public.”

Over the past decade, more than 10 politicians including Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing and MacPherson MP Tin Pei Ling have had fake social media accounts created in their name.

In August, the police warned of a recent rise in impersonation scams, with victims being approached on social media platforms on the pretext of joining or voting in campaigns allegedly organised by local brands.

Between Jan 1 and July 26, more than 120 people lost at least $330,000 to such social media impersonation scams.

The victims’ social media accounts are then taken over by scammers or spoofed by culprits impersonating their targets’ relatives or friends.

If a social media account has been compromised, it should be reported to the platform, and friends should be informed so that they do not fall prey to scammers who may use the compromised social media account maliciously.

For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam helpline on 1800-722-6688.