SINGAPORE, July 6 — The Catholic Church in Singapore has raised the alarm over a spike in fraudulent e-mails impersonating Cardinal William Goh, urging the public to be vigilant amid a broader rise in online scams.

In a notice issued on Friday, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore said the fake e-mails, which falsely claim to be from the archbishop, are part of increasingly sophisticated phishing attempts.

Reverend Terence Pereira, chancellor of the archdiocese, stressed that all legitimate e-mail communication from Cardinal Goh or his office comes exclusively from the catholic.org.sg domain.

“Any e-mail originating from a different domain should be considered inauthentic,” said Reverend Pereira.

The Church advised members of the public to report any suspicious requests for money or personal information to the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) or ScamShield via their official websites.

An earlier advisory from the Archbishop’s Communications Office on June 30 highlighted that scammers are increasingly mimicking genuine online conversations to build trust before launching their attacks.

“With 51,501 scam cases reported in Singapore in 2024, resulting in over S$1.1 billion (RM3.64 billion) in losses, the threat of online fraud is growing,” the office noted.

It warned that scammers are now leveraging artificial intelligence to craft highly personalised phishing messages, making them harder to detect.

The advisory urged caution not only with e-mail but also across platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, where scam activity is reportedly increasing.

“Be cautious when visiting websites that ask for personal details for event registrations or online donations,” it said.

“Verify through official archdiocesan or parish channels if in doubt.”

This is not the first time the Church has dealt with scam-related issues. In April 2024, ahead of the late Pope Francis’ planned visit to Singapore, the archdiocese had warned of phishing scams exploiting the event.

It had received reports of individuals falsely claiming to be linked to ticketing for the papal mass, in attempts to harvest personal information.