Scammers impersonate firm’s chairman on Microsoft Teams chat

According to the police’s mid-year scam statistics, the number of business e-mail compromise scam cases rose from 156 in the first half of 2025 to 262 in the first half of 2026.

Listen SINGAPORE – When the chief financial officer of a local healthcare firm was asked by her company’s “chairman” and “managing director” to submit the firm’s financial statements, her instinct was to follow orders.

Unbeknownst to her, scammers were impersonating the company superiors over a Microsoft Teams group chat.

Acting on instructions from her “bosses” , she almost transferred $120,000 from the firm’s bank account at the scammers’ behest.

She realised she had been tricked only when she spoke to the real managing director, who denied giving such an instruction.