SINGAPORE – Thanks to the multitude of dating websites and apps, finding love has never been easier. However, in Singapore, online dating has given rise to a darker side – online love scams. Though Singaporeans know the existence of love scams, most women believe this will never happen to them and that they will never fall for such a scam.
The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) has unveiled a new film to create awareness that no one is immune to online love scams and to empower people to recognise the signs of a scam early to avoid falling for it. In collaboration with the Singapore Police Force, this new NCPC film takes inspiration from real stories and dramatically delivers the message of “Spot the signs. Stop the crimes.”
The film starts off with the story of Ella and her newfound love, Brandon, whom she met online. Their romance grows as they chat endlessly. However, their attempts to meet always seem to come up against life’s little problems, such as Brandon’s work travels. The film gives the audience a fly-on-the-wall view of their growing fondness for each other, which grows into falling in love online, even though they have never met offline. On the day, the two are finally going to meet in person, another hurdle pops up and everything starts to unravel. The film has the audience constantly asking – will Ella and Brandon have the happily-ever-after every couple dreams of?
Nicolas Courant, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Singapore said, “Over the years, anti-scam advertising has become a blind spot for the audience. In order to create the right impact with this film, we wanted the audience to feel like they have been scammed to raise awareness on how easily anyone can fall for the possibilities of a love story.”
The film will run across TV, social media, and various online channels, kickstarting a wider campaign that enables and empowers Singaporeans with a simple message of “Spot the signs. Stop the crimes.” Through the campaign website spotthesigns.sg, Singaporeans can get a deeper understanding of the different ways to spot the various scams prevalent in Singapore.
Catch the film at https://bit.ly/2K3aBuX and the head to the campaign page at https://spotthesigns.sg.
Credits
Project title: Spot the Signs
Client name: National Crime Prevention Council
Creative Agency: Ogilvy Singapore
Chief Creative Officer: Nicholas Courant
Creative Director: Elrid Carvalho, Paul Kemp, Shawnn Lai
Strategy Director: Ishita Roy
Managing Partner: Mitchell Tan
Account Management: Eunice Lum, Chua Kai Yao
Agency Producers: Chua Ann May
Film Production House: Atypical films
Film Post Production House: Hogarth Singapore
Director: Caleb Huang
Music: Song Zu Singapore
