Beware phishing e-mails that offer fake CPF refund payouts

SINGAPORE - If you receive an e-mail claiming that you are eligible for a refund of excess Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions, it may be a scam.

In an advisory on Aug 19, the CPF Board said it was alerted to a phishing e-mail with the subject line “CPF Contribution Overpayment – Refund Notification”.

In the scam message, recipients are told that they are eligible for a refund of excess CPF contributions and asked to confirm the refund details via a link.

There were no details in the advisory on how many people had fallen victim to the scam or the total amount they had lost.

In this scam variant, the fraudsters would spoof the sender ID and include the official CPF logo in the message to fool recipients into thinking the e-mail had been sent from the statutory board.

The CPF Board only contacts CPF members via official e-mails with the domain names @cpf.gov.sg or @e.cpf.gov.sg.

Those who receive such e-mails are advised not to click on any links or download any attachments in these messages, said the statutory board. Do not share any personal, banking or Singpass details via these e-mails or links as well.

Those who receive the phishing e-mail should delete it immediately, said the CPF Board.

Calls from the CPF Board will only be made via their hotline 6227-1188, and text messages use the “gov.sg” sender ID.

WhatsApp messages will be sent via official accounts, which are identified as “CPF Board Text Us” or “CPF Board” with the blue verified tick on the messaging platform. The statutory board said it never makes calls via WhatsApp.

Those who are unsure if they are encountering a scam should call the 24/7 ScamShield helpline on 1799 or contact the CPF Board at cpf.gov.sg/service/contact-us.

Government official impersonation scams were the fifth most common scam type in 2025, with such cases more than doubling from 1,504 cases in 2024 to 3,363 in 2025.

The amount lost to such scams also rose significantly by around 60 per cent, from $151.3 million in 2024 to $242.9 million in 2025.