Beware of new scam schemes! 50 y/o woman hacked after clicking WhatsApp message; scammer asks friends and family for loans

SINGAPORE: A female accountant became a victim of a crime after receiving a message from an acquaintance, claiming to view several documents. After clicking the message, the victim’s computer was hacked, resulting in her relatives and friends receiving loan requests, and more than a dozen people were asked to lend her $1,000 each.

Case details revealed that a 50-year-old victim received a message on WhatsApp, asking her to open a compressed file. Given that the victim had previously worked with the one who sent the message, and her work needed to process documents, the victim did not suspect anything and clicked the file. She claimed that after clicking the file, she could not see anything, and after explaining it to the person who sent the file, she did not pay any more attention to it, as reported by Shin Min Daily News.

However, her computer suddenly displayed unidentified texts, and programs kept jumping and running. She did not immediately realise that her computer might have been hacked. She only knew that something was wrong when her boss asked her if she had borrowed money from anyone. 

Unfortunately, her WhatsApp account was suspected of being hacked and that the suspect sent her relatives, friends, and colleagues messages, asking for money. The suspect also tampered her account, and immediately sent the messages that were sent. 

“About a dozen people received the message, including colleagues, relatives and friends, and even my sister in Malaysia received the message. She thought it was strange that I asked her for Singapore dollars,” the victim admitted. 

One of the female’s colleagues believed the scam and transferred money. With this, the victim reported the incident to the police and immediately backed up the data on her computer and reformatted it. 

In other news, there was a report that a man took advantage of drunk men who were asleep, taking this as an opportunity to steal Rolex watches, gold necklaces, and mobile phones. 

A 45-year-old Malaysian is the suspect in the crime, and five out of seven victims appeared in court to seek compensation.

Read more about the news story here.