Malware Scam Costs Victims in Singapore Over $625,000 Within Two Months

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) is reminding the public to beware of the latest malware scam. Since last month, the police have received at least 82 reports of such scams with losses amounting to more than $625,000.

Fraudsters committing the scams sent phishing links to victims via WhatsApp, enticing them to download malware, which was used to steal banking information.

Fraudsters placed ads for travel or cleaning services on Facebook and TikTok and left their contact information to attract potential victims' attention. Upon getting in touch with the victims, they asked the victim to pay a $5 membership or prepayment fee through a phishing link on WhatsApp.

However, after keying their bank account details, the victim would encounter a payment issue.

Under the pretext of resolving the issue, the scammers asked the victims to download and install malware, through which they remotely control victim's devices to steal sensitive information such as SMS OPTs and subsequently steal money.

Some victims were also asked to disable Google Play Protect which prevents harmful downloads on settings, so they would not receive any warning alert when the malware was installed.

_{Screenshots of WhatsApp Conversation and Phishing Website (Source: SPF)}