We all buy or sell things online through various platforms and organizations that have our personal information stored in their database that is nevertheless safe until and unless the actors impersonate these organizations and befool users into submitting their OTP’s, passwords, etc. The user is safe from such phishing emails as long as they do not respond in the required condition to the mail.
The city-state of Singapore has turned out to be a victim of extortion with phishing emails that have even agonized the government officials. On the 5th of January, the Singapore government officials stated that there have been bank-related phishing scams where the actors have been imitating to be Singapore Government officials and asking natives for their personal information. Generally, the victims in such scams receive a call or email or even a message from some government agencies like the Ministry of Manpower, asserting some issues within the victim’s bank account.
Furthermore, they ask to verify some personal details that should have stayed confidential – such as their NRIC numbers, password of bank account, log-in credentials, and much more. Following the aforesaid state of affairs, the actors then try to make illegitimate transactions of money from the victim’s account.
The first six months of the year 2020 have reported some 900 cases of bank-related phishing scams and a more than 25-fold from the just 34 such cases for the same period in the year 2019, stated the Singapore Police. The amount of loss has been calculated to $ 3.6 million for the year 2020.
The Singapore Police in charge of the case has requested the natives to ignore such calls and deny stipulating any information regarding the bank account or the log -in credentials and any private details. They clarified that no government agency in any situation would ask for any private information or bank account details over a phone call or via emails. Scammers or actors may mask their actual phone numbers and try to display a different profile using ID spoofing technology as further added by the police.
After recording a significant surge in these cases Singapore government officials have asked for cooperation and support from the city natives, requesting them not to share their personal or internet banking details and OTP’s with anyone.
