A total of three people have been hoodwinked by a new social media scam this week.

Police issued a warning about the scam, where residents are recruited through an Instagram account run by someone pretending to be “Jessie_Jae_Allen”.

Victims were asked to transfer at least $200 to Jamaica, through Blue Nile Services, an agent of Western Union.

People who transferred cash were told that the money would be invested in currency exchanges and that they could expect immediate payouts of up to $7,500. The victims were given a fake tracking number and told it could be used to collect their profits.

But a police spokesman said attempts to recover cash were unsuccessful. Blue Nile Services reported the scam to police and are helping with the inquiry.

In a separate scam, another victim reported they were caught out by a phishing e-mail that appeared to be from a local bank.

The email said:

Dear Valued Customer,

Please be advised that your online banking profile has been migrated to the new Online platform, you are required to complete a mandatory verification to continue using the new Online services.

Enter here to continue >>>

Note: account not verified soon may be disconnected from online service.

Kind regards,

Online Help Desk

Reference Number is 706874.

Police said the public should ignore e-mails that ask for verification of online banking credentials or username and password details because of software upgrades from island banks.

The spokesman added another victim was tricked by a phishing e-mail that claimed to be from a local internet services company.

The e-mail included a link for the recipient to apply e-mail settings to avoid being locked out of their e-mail account.

A spokesman said the phishing e-mails are used to obtain personal information and other sensitive data.

• Any incidents of suspected internet fraud should be reported to the Financial Crime Unit on 247-1757 or by e-mail to fraud2@bps.bm. See www.gov.bm/how-avoid-and-report-scams