A free workshop to learn how not to get caught out: the invitation looked like a sound security habit. According to a report filed with the Singapore police, however, the “Don’t Get Played” event, held on the sidelines of the TOKEN2049 conference, allegedly pushed its guests to install remote-control software. Here is what the document contains, what remains to be established and how this type of scam works.
What the filed report says
The case rests on a single page. On 12 October, the SolanaFloor account published on X page 2 of 6 of a Singapore Police Force report, whose barcode bears the date 11 October 2026, Journal du Coin reports. In it, the complainant targets a group said to operate under three names: “Apex Accelerator”, “Stone Venture” and “Don’t Get Played”.
According to the report, the event took place on Sunday 11 October, from 18h to 22h, at the Singapore EDITION, a luxury hotel. The organisers allegedly “put pressure on participants” to install software giving remote control of their computer. The document also mentions a website and a Telegram group that can only be joined via that website. The complainant says they installed nothing and reports no financial loss.
What remains to be established
A police report remains one complainant’s version. As of 13 October, the Singapore police had made no public statement on the case, and no charges appear in the published material. No victim who suffered harm has come forward. “Apex Accelerator” and “Stone Venture” have not responded publicly, and the name of the software in question remains unknown.
How this type of scam works
The context explains the scammers’ interest. TOKEN2049 Singapore took place on 7 and 8 October 2026, and hundreds of side events orbit the conference throughout the week. Founders and traders often travel there with their crypto wallets on a laptop.
The mechanism is simple. Remote-access software lets a third party see the screen and open the files on the machine. Yet many users keep their recovery phrase, the 12 or 24 words that give access to a wallet, in a plain text file. Once that file has been copied, a wallet can be emptied in a few minutes, with no possible recourse: crypto transfers cannot be reversed.
The method is not new. Journal du Coin compares it to the fake companies set up by the North Korean group Lazarus to trap developers. In an advisory published on 2 July 2026, the Singapore police also reported at least 30 complaints since May linked to fake technical support impersonating Microsoft and Crypto.com, for more than one million Singapore dollars in losses. After fake recruiters and fake video-call meetings, the fake cybersecurity trainer appears to be yet another variant.
Good habits
For anyone attending these conferences, including from Switzerland, a few rules of caution apply whatever the setting. Never install remote-access software at the request of a stranger, even one presented as a trainer or technical support. Do not keep your recovery phrase in a file on your computer. If in doubt, report the facts to the police and, in Switzerland, to the Federal Office for Cybersecurity (NCSC).
For people who may have followed the installation instructions that evening, Journal du Coin recommends treating the machine as compromised: transfer the funds to a new address from another device, uninstall the tool, change passwords and then reinstall the system, and above all do not download a second program from the same site “to check”.
