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Bedok is one of Singapore’s oldest and largest housing estates. Many flats around Bedok North, Chai Chee and Bedok Reservoir have been home to the same families for decades, and the area has a lot of older residents: a 2025 age-friendly assessment for the east counted about 84,000 people aged 60 and above out of roughly 277,000 Bedok residents, close to three in ten. Mornings at Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre, next to Bedok Mall and the bus interchange, show it.
This page is for the uncle or auntie who keeps hearing about Bitcoin on the news, and for the son, daughter or grandchild who has been asked to “help set it up”. It is deliberately slow. We are not going to tell anyone to buy. We will explain how to do it safely if you decide to, and how to recognise the people who will try to take advantage.
Before you start: three honest questions
Have this conversation at the kitchen table before anyone opens an app. If the answer to any of these is “no” or “not sure”, wait.
- Is this my own idea? If the interest started with a stranger on WhatsApp, a Facebook advert, a “teacher” in a Telegram group or a phone call, stop. That is how most crypto scams begin.
- Could I lose this money and be fine? Bitcoin has fallen by more than half several times. Money for medical bills, the flat or monthly expenses should not go in.
- Do I know who to ask if I get confused? Agree on one family member who will be called before any transfer, any new app and any “urgent” request. Not after.
A first purchase in plain language
Buying crypto in Singapore today is closer to opening an online brokerage account than to anything you saw in the old Bitcoin ATM news stories. Everything happens on a phone, and money moves only between your own bank account and the app.
- Pick one licensed app
Choose a company on the MAS list of licensed digital payment token providers. Write its exact name down and download it only from the official App Store or Google Play listing.
- Sign up with Singpass
Singpass fills in your name, NRIC and address automatically, so there is less to type and fewer chances to mistype.
- Answer the risk quiz yourself
MAS requires licensed platforms to check that retail customers understand the risks. The questions are about price swings, scams and losing access. Read them slowly; they are useful.
- Send a small amount by PayNow
From your own bank app, send S$50 or S$100 to the platform using the details shown inside the app. Deposits usually arrive within minutes. Our PayNow guide shows what this looks like on each platform.
- Buy, then sell a little back
Buy a small amount of Bitcoin, then practise selling S$10 of it and withdrawing to your bank. Knowing the way out matters as much as the way in.
The longer, screen-by-screen version is in our guide to buying Bitcoin in Singapore. For a first purchase, keep the coin on the licensed platform. Moving it to a separate wallet is a later step, and a mistake there is permanent; the wallet guide explains the trade-offs when you are ready.
Signing up with Singpass, safely
Singpass is the key to your bank, your CPF and your HDB matters, so the sign-up is where the most care is needed. A few house rules make it safe.
Start from the app, never from a link. A genuine Singpass login appears when you tap “Sign up with Singpass” inside the platform’s app that you downloaded yourself. If a message, an email or a stranger sends you a link that opens a Singpass page, close it.
Only you approve. When Singpass asks you to approve a login, check that it is the platform you are signing up to, at the time you are doing it. If an approval request pops up when you did nothing, reject it and tell your family helper.
The helper watches, the owner taps. For family members: sit next to your parent, explain each screen, but let them enter their own passcode and do their own face check. Never ask for their Singpass password, never photograph their NRIC for “later”, and never set the account up on your own phone. If something goes wrong later, it must be clear the account is theirs.
Use the phone they already know. A familiar phone with a screen lock, current software and only official apps is safer than a new device nobody is used to.
The scams aimed at older buyers
The numbers are sobering. In a parliamentary reply on 7 May 2026, the Ministry of Home Affairs said people aged 65 and above made up about 15% of scam victims in 2025, were the only age group whose victim numbers went up, and lost about S$37,000 each on average, the highest of any group. About two in five senior victims were caught by either investment scams or government official impersonation.
| What you hear | The truth |
|---|---|
| “This is the police / MAS / MOH. Your account is linked to a crime. Move your money to a safe account or into crypto.” | No government officer will ever ask you to transfer money, buy crypto or gold, or hand over cash. Hang up. |
| “Join our investment group. Our teacher shows members how to make 20% a month.” | Groups on WhatsApp or Telegram that promise steady returns are the most common start of crypto investment scams. |
| “Download this app so we can help you.” | Remote-access and fake trading apps let criminals see your screen or show fake profits. Only install apps you looked up yourself. |
| “You have profits waiting, but you must pay a tax or fee to withdraw.” | A real platform deducts fees from your balance. Paying to unlock “profits” means the profits are not real. |
| “Don’t tell your children, they won’t understand.” | Secrecy is the scammer’s best tool. Telling family is your best protection. |
Install ScamShield together
ScamShield is the government’s free anti-scam app for iPhone and Android. It filters suspected scam SMS and calls, and its website lets you check a suspicious message or number. Install it on your parent’s phone on the same day you set up the crypto app. For a second opinion at any hour, the ScamShield Helpline is 1799.
Our crypto scams guide goes deeper into how these schemes run and how to report one.
Keeping amounts small
The simplest protection is structural: keep only a small sum where it can be moved quickly. Two ideas families in Bedok use:
Lock most savings. DBS/POSB, OCBC and UOB each offer a way to set money aside so it cannot be transferred out digitally (DBS digiVault, OCBC Money Lock, UOB LockAway). Unlocking needs extra steps, which is exactly the point: a scammer on the phone cannot rush you through them. Check your own bank’s current rules.
Set a low transfer limit. Most banking apps let you lower the daily PayNow and transfer limit. A limit of a few hundred dollars is enough for a monthly crypto top-up and makes a large loss much harder.
If your parent wants to keep investing, a fixed monthly amount is easier to supervise than one-off purchases. Our recurring buy guide shows how that works and what the fees add up to.
Choosing a simple, licensed app
For an older first-time buyer, “simple and supervised” beats “cheapest”. Look for three things: the company appears in the MAS register of licensed providers (our MAS-licensed exchange list is kept current), it accepts PayNow or FAST from a local bank, and the buy screen is easy to read. Platforms such as Coinhako, Coinbase, Gemini, Crypto.com, Independent Reserve and OKX SG all hold MAS licences; our exchange comparison shows how they differ on fees.
International platforms can be fine for experienced users, but they are not supervised by MAS. For a parent’s first account, we would start with a locally licensed one. If you do choose an overseas platform, understand that Singapore’s customer protections, such as the requirement to hold customer assets in a statutory trust, do not apply.
Ready to try a S$50 first buy together?
Open an account, pass the risk quiz and practise one purchase and one small withdrawal before deciding anything else.
Who to call
Write these on a card and stick it near the phone. In a panic, people forget numbers.
- Not sure if it is a scam
- ScamShield Helpline 1799, 24 hours
- Money already sent
- Call your bank immediately on the number on the back of your card and ask them to block transfers. Then make a police report online or at a police station.
- Danger or urgent help
- 999
- Crypto platform issue
- Use the help section inside the official app only. Real support staff never ask for your password or Singpass approval.
- Family helper
- Write your agreed person’s name and number here.
Speed matters. The police Anti-Scam Centre works with banks to freeze accounts that received scam money, and the sooner it hears, the better the chance. Crypto that has left a platform is very hard to trace back. Call the bank first, then report.
There is no walk-in crypto help desk in Bedok. For general phone and Singpass skills, IMDA’s Seniors Go Digital programme runs guided sessions; they do not advise on investments. Neighbours in the east, especially younger households, may find our Tampines guide on family budgets and monthly plans useful too.
Other areas
Every neighbourhood guide answers a different question, from the CBD’s OTC desks to the airport’s travel questions next door in Changi.
Bedok
For older first-time buyers and the family members helping them.
Open area guideFrequently asked questions
Is there a Bitcoin ATM in Bedok?
No. We found no public Bitcoin or crypto ATM in Bedok, at Bedok Mall or anywhere else in Singapore. The machines that existed in a few malls were switched off in January 2022 after MAS guidelines. If someone tells you to bring cash to a machine or a shop to buy crypto, treat it as a warning sign. Our Bitcoin ATM guide explains what happened.
My father is in his seventies. Can he open a crypto account?
Yes, there is no upper age limit on MAS-licensed platforms. He will need his own Singpass, his own bank account and his own phone, and he must pass the platform’s risk awareness assessment himself. A family member can sit beside him and explain, but should not answer the quiz or open the account in their own name for him.
Can I buy crypto for my mother using my account?
You can buy crypto in your own account and treat it as hers informally, but it legally stays yours, and your own records and tax position apply. Many families find it cleaner to keep it in their own name and simply agree a small amount. Never let anyone else log in to your account, even family, because platforms treat shared logins as a security breach.
Someone from “MAS” called to say my crypto account is under investigation. Is it real?
No. MAS, the police and other government officers will never ask you to transfer money, buy crypto, install an app or share a Singpass code over the phone. Hang up and call the 24-hour ScamShield Helpline on 1799 to check. Government official impersonation is one of the two scam types most often reported by older victims.
How much should a first-time buyer put in?
An amount you could lose completely without changing anything in your life. For many retirees that is S$50 to S$200 for the first purchase. You can add more later once you understand how the app, the price swings and the withdrawals work.
Will the Digital Ambassadors at the community centre help me buy crypto?
They help with general digital skills such as Singpass Mobile and e-payments under IMDA’s Seniors Go Digital programme. They are not investment advisers and will not recommend a crypto platform. Ask them about phone and Singpass basics; check platforms yourself against the MAS register.
