Some scammers embed malicious links behind text that appears to be legitimate, such as mimicking government URLs. While ScamShield uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to scan and extract visible text from screenshots, it cannot detect hidden or embedded links that don’t appear directly in the image.

This is a known tactic used in scam variants, including those impersonating government agencies. Please refer to this police advisory on the resurgence of scams through fake websites and infographics on government cash-like payouts using the medium of embedded links.   

What are embedded links?

Sometimes, scammers hide the real website link behind words or images. What you see might look like a real and safe website (like a government website), but when you click on it, it actually brings you to a different, fake website.

For example, the message might show: “Visit www.gov.sg for your payout”

But when you click it, you might be taken to a scam website like www.fake-website.com, which is designed to look like the real one.

How to stay safe:

• Don’t click on links in messages unless you are 100% sure it is from a trusted source.

• Do not use clickable links provided by unknown persons.

• Check the full website address by pressing and holding the link before clicking (on most smartphones, this shows the actual URL).

• If you're unsure, don’t click. Instead, go to the official website directly by typing it into your browser.

• Use the ScamShield app to check or report suspicious links or messages. This allows us to escalate suspicious links to the relevant authorities for further review.

If you're unsure whether a gov.sg link in a message is safe, please use the ScamShield app to check, and always exercise caution when clicking on an embedded link in a text message.

• Look out for the “.gov.sg” in URL for Government websites. After you have clicked upon “gov.sg” link, conduct a second check on any pop-up message with a new domain link.

• If the website looks like a Government website but does not contain “.gov.sg”, you can verify it by checking the list of Government associated websites available on gov.sg/trusted-sites.