From OCBC phishing to the ‘Macau scam’, how cyber criminals from Singapore and Hong Kong to Malaysia and India stay one step ahead of the banks
- A series of frauds that cost OCBC Bank users in Singapore at least US$6.33 million shines a light on how phishing scams across Asia are getting ever more sophisticated
- The growth of digital services has been a boon for fraudsters who prey on elderly users new to the technology. Critics say banks need to be more proactive
But the move came only after a series of high-level scams involving OCBC Bank users. In December alone, more than 450 of them fell prey to the attacks, amounting to at least S$8.5 million (US$6.33 million) in losses.
John Paul Tan was one of them. His wife, with whom he shares a joint bank account, had received a “strange message” from a number purporting to be the bank last month, informing her that someone was attempting to access her account.
She clicked on a link in the message and within hours, the couple had lost their life savings in five overseas transactions.
“I was distraught,” Tan wrote in a widely-shared Facebook post. “I sat down in the middle of the kitchen with my head in hands, going through various stages of grief.”
Tan and his wife’s experience was strikingly similar to those of other scam victims.
Typically, they would receive an SMS stating there was an issue requiring them to log in to their accounts. A link would take them to a website with the same interface as the bank’s landing page. When they keyed in their details, their savings would be wiped out.