SINGAPORE: Mr Ravi Menon, who heads the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank, acknowledged that authorities are “very concerned” about malware scams. These recent fraudulent schemes have been in the news after many have been victimized, with some losing even their life savings after inadvertently downloading infected files that allowed scammers access to their personal data and/or banking credentials.
Nevertheless, Mr Menon added that the “right approach” needs to be found before this type of scam is made part of a proposed framework determining liability for the financial losses that occur because of them, he said in a recent CNA interview.
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At present, discussions on the framework are taking place. On Oct 25, a consultation paper was released by MAS and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) stating that the country’s telecommunication companies and financial institutions that were found in breach of responsibilities might need to compensate their customers who were victimized by these scams.
This concentrates on digital phishing scams, to begin with, but other types of scams—including malware, love scams, and investment scams are not yet part of the framework.
Malware scams were once practically unheard of, but in the past few months, more and more incidents of this type of fraudulent scheme have been reported in the news. The police have said that there have been over 1,400 people who have fallen prey to malware scams, with total losses of at least S$20.6 million in the first eight months of the year, with nearly half taking place just in July and August.
Read also: At least S$10 million stolen in new malware scam targeting mobile banking customers
CNA quotes Mr Menon as saying, “The number of malware scams is smaller than other scams but the number is growing, and we are very concerned about it. We’ve been discussing with the banks the safeguards and measures that can be put in place against malware scams
Malware scams are not part of this shared responsibility framework. I know people will be disappointed with this but … we need to get the right approach towards such scams before we can put it in the framework.”
The MAS head said, however, that at least four major banks have implemented anti-malware controls. Last month, OCBC, DBS, Citibank, and UOB implemented safeguards that restrict access to their apps when customers are found to have downloaded potentially risky apps from unofficial portals.
Other safety measures are under consideration, which may make banking inconvenient for app users, and yet may be needful to protect people, he added.
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