I think it’s alright to be wary of messages you receive.
Singaporeans are known to be a bit kiasu after all.
Messages like ones that say you won a lottery when you clearly have never tried one in your life.
Though if you have the guts and wit, you can always try and fight the scams back.
However, today is not any of those things.
We’re here to tell you that an SMS floating around from the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) is real. Take note, servicemen.
Message From Mindef
Don’t worry, we got proof to back it up.
According to The Straits Times, several National Servicemen (NSmen) have received a text message with a go.gov.sg link.
This is for the redemption of the NS Excellence Award (NSEA) and Celebratory Gifts for NSmen (CG).
Redemption services for such rewards were transferred to a government platform called FormSG, which includes the URL go.gov.sg
Understandably, several were still concerned and inquired to MINDEF about this.
Actually…probably more than a few as MINDEF recently made this Facebook post.
The post clarifies that while the links are legitimate, only NSmen who received the message via SMS were eligible to log in and redeem credits.
Which means don’t go forwarding this to your other NS buddies. If they didn’t receive it, they didn’t receive it.
Similarly, those who receive similar messages with links circulated through WhatsApp or other social media sites will not be able to redeem the credits.
Those eligible to receive the credits will be prompted to log in to their Singpass details.
Understandable Skepticism
The initial suspicions were pretty legitimate fears, to be honest.
Last year, more than 400 men from the Singapore Armed Forces and Home Team had redeemed credits for the awards too.
Unfortunately, their personal contact details were sent to one another by mistake after a government-appointed vendor made a technical error.
The new measures this year are a method to prevent something similar from happening.
Now you know that it’s safe, you can safely go and redeem your credits!
For those who didn’t receive the SMS though, don’t try and pull a fast one.
