Beware of con men abusing PIC scheme
They lure victims with false claims of cash, assistance
Published on Jan 2, 2015 5:50 AM
By Aw Cheng Wei
Chicken rice seller S. L. Lim was approached by a man who offered to help him set up a website and an app to promote his hawker stall. In the end, Mr Lim lost $5,000 and the website never materialised.
In another instance, polytechnic student Kelvin Ong was approached by a business consultant who gave him $400 to set up an online business. Now, he has been asked to pay $12,000 to the business consultant's company.
Mr Lim and Mr Ong are among those who have fallen victim to scams that rode on the popularity of the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme.
Introduced in 2010, the scheme is administered by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras). It offers financial incentives - tax deductions or cash payouts - to firms that invest in machinery, staff training or restructuring to be more productive.
