With at least 10 people losing more than S$70,000 to banking-related phishing scams in May, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) has advised the public to be cautious of such modus operandi. Scammers have been impersonating bank employees and targeting victims through phone calls and SMS messages said the police on Sunday (May 22).
The victims would receive calls from the bank telling them that their bank cards might have been compromised. The scammers then ask for the victim’s bank account information to help them resolve the issue. Once the victims give their bank account numbers and corresponding one-time passwords, the scammers gain access to siphon money out of the affected account.
Other victims received SMS messages informing them of issues with their credit or debit cards. The message contains a number the victim could call for assistance, bringing them into contact with the scammers.
Victims would only discover they have fallen for the scam after seeing unauthorised transactions from their bank accounts.
This type of impersonation scam has rapidly increased in Singapore, from 149 reported cases in 2020 to 1,021 cases in 2021, according to The Straits Times.
SPF revealed that at least S$633.3 million were lost to scams last year.
Business email compromise scam
In a Facebook post on Sunday, SPF highlighted another modus operandi of scammers spoofing the email addresses of the victim’s colleagues, supervisors, or suppliers in a business email compromise scam.
From the photo below, the email addresses on the right are spoofed, which are almost identical to the real ones if not for one minor difference.
Victims were then deceived into transferring payments to new bank accounts provided in these spoofed emails or assisting in purchasing gift cards for their colleagues.
“Since January 2022, at least 149 victims have fallen prey, with losses amounting to at least S$70.8million,” said SPF.
If your business has been affected by this scam, call your bank immediately to request for recall of funds, it added.
“The best way to protect yourself is to know how to identify them (scams),” notes scamalert.sg
If it’s a ‘+’ number, it could be a scam. “Unsolicited calls from banks, telcos and other organisations should always be treated with suspicion, especially if they are unable to identify themselves properly.”
More information on how to identify such scams can be found here. /TISG