Cpf scam

Imagine trying to buy seafood online and losing $40,000 worth of CPF savings (pension). And we thought that online scams were just limited to phishing emails and SMSes. 

This one was more elaborate as it involved an omni channel approach between Facebook ads and engaging with someone on WhatsApp to and fro. 

Then after victim went to bed , all his CPF was withdrawn from his bank account and thereafter transferred out. 

What happened?

#malware was used to compromise mobile devices, resulting in unauthorised transactions from the victims’ bank accounts even though they did not reveal their internet banking credentials, one-time passwords or Singpass credentials to anyone.

In this case, CPF savings were withdrawn and credited to victims' bank accounts before being transferred out.

This happened after victims responded to advertisements on social media platforms like Facebook and were instructed by scammers to download mobile apps from third-party sites or via WhatsApp, resulting in malware being installed on their mobile devices.

As a consumer, here’s what I think we can do : 

✅ Avoid downloading mobile apps from third party sites or via WhatsApp as this may result in malware being installed on your mobile devices. 

✅ Set lower limits on your internet banking daily transfer limits. (Not sure if it may help in this case but at least we can slow down or limit the amount of losses).

✅ Don’t write down passwords and other login details in a note-taking app on your phone. If you simply have to (since we all have so many user IDs and passwords), perhaps we can mask certain digits or truncate it so no one understands it but yourself. 

✅ Tell your friends and family about this latest variant of scams. Sharing is caring.

https://lnkd.in/gFkcGGMG

#digitaltrust #consumer #data #tech #digital #scam  #phishing  #sgtech #transformlifesg #jenetalksdigitaltrust