At least $83,000 lost in phishing scams linked to fake Simba websites since March: Police

SINGAPORE – When using online search engines to find websites, one should ensure the web addresses of the search results are legitimate, the police warned, amid an uptick in phishing scams involving fake sites of the telco Simba in search results.

More than $83,000 has been lost in at least 62 cases reported since March, the police said in a statement on Oct 21.

In this scam, victims used Google to search for Simba top-up services. They found and clicked on fake Simba websites, which appeared among the top sponsored results.

Victims were prompted to enter their personal and banking details, such as their mobile numbers and bank card information, and to authenticate transactions on the phishing websites.

The police said that the victims realised they had been scammed when they discovered unauthorised transactions on their cards.

Websites appearing at the top in search engine results or as sponsored advertisements could be phishing websites pretending to be popular brand names, the police warned.

They reminded the public to check web addresses carefully, as phishing websites use domain extensions different from Simba’s legitimate domain for top-ups – https://topup.simba.sg

Fake Simba website addresses include:

• simba-sg.asia

• simba.sg-fastrecharge.shop

• simba.sg-topup.icu

• simba.sg-recharge.life

• simba.sg-recharge.cfd

• simba.sg-recharge.cyou

One should use a previously saved bookmark or type the known address directly, instead of using search engines, the police advised.

In releasing the mid-year scam statistics on Aug 26, the police said $410.6 million was lost in scams in the first six months of 2026, compared with $500.2 million during the same period in 2025.

They also warned that scams remain the dominant crime type in Singapore.

For more information on scams, members of the public may also call the 24-hour ScamShield Helpline on 1799 or visit www.scamshield.gov.sg