ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – Former Singapore mufti Fatris Bakaram has alerted his followers to a possible scam in which an insurance and investment company falsely labels him as an adviser and uses his picture in an advertisement.
Dr Fatris, who served as Singapore’s third mufti from 2011 to 2020, said in a Facebook post on Friday that it was “unethical” that his picture and name were used without his knowledge and permission.
“I would like to emphasise that I am not an advisor to an investment company as described in this advertisement,” he said.
He added, “It is regrettable that a company claiming to be a halal investment agency exploits my name and picture without my knowledge or permission.”
In Dr Fatris’ screengrab of the sponsored post by a page called Halal Investment Agent, he is described as “Pafa top adviser 2023”.
An ad with his image carries the caption “invest smart, minimize risk, maximise reward”, and includes promises like a 100 per cent success rate in copy trading, full control and visibility and shariah compliance.
The Halal Investment Agent post that appears in Dr Fatris’ screengrab was still up as at noon yesterday, with its date stamp showing it was posted on December 13. The page has 1,100 followers.
A search on Facebook also turns up a company called Pafa Financial Advisory, which has a logo similar to Halal Investment Agent’s.
Pafa is described on its page as an investment management and insurance company, and has 11,000 followers on Facebook. The Straits Times has contacted Dr Fatris and Pafa for more information.
