Scammers impersonated OneMotoring to phish $407,000 from victims who thought they were paying LTA for expired road tax

Digital criminals used phishing messages about “expired road tax” to steal money from unsuspecting motorists who clicked the malicious links purportedly from Land Transport Authority (LTA).

According to Singapore Police Force (SPF), there were 37 such cases reported by the victims since 2024 December, with their total losses amounting to at least $407,000. This equates to an average loss of $11,000 per victim who fell for the online trickery. 

These phishing scams used the same fraudulent technique. Victims would receive email or text messages purportedly from OneMotoring, LTA’s official portal for vehicular matters, to inform them about expired road tax or road licence. The messages would direct the victims to a phishing payment website, which would then misuse their personal information, credit/debit card details and other pertinent data for unauthorised transactions.  

The SPF advisory alerts members of the motoring public about this resurgence in phishing scams and reminds them that legitimate messages from LTA about unpaid road tax or other arrears do not contain links to the OneMotoring website or any payment gateway. 

All official notifications from LTA to motorists are sent via SMS with the “gov.sg” sender identifier, e-letters in the vehicle owner’s OneMotoring account accessible only with Singpass login, and/or hardcopy letters posted to the vehicle owner’s registered address. 

There are existing precautionary measures against scams both online and offline, which have turned Singapore into the “scammed capital” of Asia, with a record $1.1 billion lost by the country’s scam victims in 2024. This amount of money could have built half of our KPE (Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway).

The said countermeasures introduced by the authorities are ScamShield (app and www.scamshield.gov.sg) and a dedicated anti-scam helpline (1800-722-6688). Financial institutions also play their part with Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for risky transactions and e-wallets, and a Money Lock feature to protect deposits in savings accounts at the expense of convenience. 

People who discover unauthorised money transfers or suspicious credit/debit card charges in their accounts should contact the relevant bank or card-issuer immediately. The 24/7 hotline usually has a quick-access key for prompt reporting of fraud cases over the phone. 

Vehicle owners who are unsure about any message which appears to be from “LTA” or “OneMotoring” should verify the information directly with LTA via its primary portal  onemotoring.lta.go.sg or hotline 1800-2255-582. 

They could also add another layer of protection from scams by using the Motorist App to safely manage their vehicle ownership matters, including road tax renewal. 
A phishing email with malicious fake hyperlink that tried to scam the Motorist editor.

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