Scams have become a rather common occurrence in Singapore, evolving into many forms like online shopping and Telegram job scams.
Most recently, a 49-year-old woman in Singapore lost about S$28,000 to hackers.
This apparently happened after she unknowingly installed an app containing malware, after clicking on an advertisement or ad on Facebook.
Shin Min Daily News reported that Ms Chen, an educator, first noted something amiss on 18 July.
At around 6pm that day, she received a notification on her mobile phone informing her of a S$6,000 transfer.
However, Ms Chen told the Chinese paper that the notice disappeared when she clicked on it.
She then logged in to her online banking app only to find S$4 left in her bank account.
Following the unfortunate discovery, Ms Chen contacted her bank to freeze her account.
The 49-year-old also filed a report regarding the case, after which she surrendered her phone to the police.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
In her report, Ms Chen stated her suspicion that she may have downloaded malware from a fake Google Chrome app after clicking on an ad while scrolling on Facebook.
As the hackers needed ‘permission’ to access her bank account, they sent the fake update notification, which Ms Chen clicked without much thought.
“I have a lot of application pages, so I didn’t realise that there are two Chromes in the phone,” she said to Shin Min Daily News.
Having gained access, the hackers then used Teamviewer to remotely control her phone.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the hacker performed five transactions on 18 July.
These included an application for a S$20,000 cash advance on top of the S$8,000 worth of transfers.
Ms Chen’s bank is reportedly in the process of reviewing her case to hopefully waive the S$20,000 advance, reported TNP.
The police are also investigating the case.
In light of the incident, Ms Chen urged others to be wary and said that she, too, will be more careful in the future.
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Featured image adapted from Patrik Marek on Flickr and Brett Jordan on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only.
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