75-Year-Old Retiree Loses Over $4,200 in Deepfake Cryptocurrency Scam Involving Brand Spoofing, WhatsApp Groups, and Direct Account Takeover

A cryptocurrency investment scam involving deepfake political impersonation, brand spoofing and direct account manipulation has come under police investigation after a retiree lost more than $4,200 within days. Authorities say the case reflects a rapidly escalating fraud model in which synthetic media is used to accelerate trust, while cryptocurrency rails are exploited to extract funds before victims can react.

The victim, a 75-year-old retiree, was added to a WhatsApp group promoting a cryptocurrency investment opportunity. The group circulated a deepfake video impersonating a Singapore government minister, falsely endorsing the scheme. Investigators confirmed the video was AI-generated and used to confer political legitimacy on the operation, a tactic previously flagged in government-impersonation investment scams using manipulated media.

The victim was directed to a registration link and paid a $250 onboarding fee via bank transfer. Shortly after, he received a phone call from an individual claiming to represent Coinbase, a legitimate US-based cryptocurrency exchange. Police confirmed the scammers did not operate through Coinbase, but deliberately referenced the brand to exploit public trust, mirroring patterns seen in brand-spoofing retail scams targeting retail investors.

Screen-sharing and retirement fund extraction

Five days later, a second caller initiated a video call and instructed the victim to share his smartphone screen, guiding him to access his Central Provident Fund (CPF) and linked bank accounts. Under instruction, the victim increased his daily withdrawal limit and transferred $4,400 from his CPF Ordinary Account to his bank to “fund trading”. A week later, $3,999 was withdrawn without authorisation.

Police noted that the use of live screen-sharing to bypass account safeguards aligns with account takeover and assisted fraud techniques previously documented in remote-access investment scam cases (BrokersView report on screen-sharing financial fraud).

Enforcement challenges in crypto-linked cases

Authorities confirmed that cryptocurrency-related scams accounted for 17.9% of total scam losses in the first half of 2025, with funds often moved rapidly across borders. The decentralised and irreversible nature of crypto transactions continues to obstruct recovery efforts, a challenge explored in cross-border crypto fraud enforcement limitations.