The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has warned of a new scam advertisement on Google search where fake bank hotlines would appear when users search for banks’ contact numbers. Since December 2021, victims of these scams have already lost more than S$495,000 ($367,775).
The fake ads appear on Google when users search for a bank's contact number with the aim of seeking advice for various reasons. These ads would show up amongst the first few search results and contain fake contact details for the bank, the Singapore Police said in its advisory note.
The victims would call the fake number and speak to a scammer impersonating as bank staff. “After sharing the reasons for contacting the bank, victims would be informed that there were issues with their bank account, credit/debit cards, or loan amount,” the police said.
The victims are then instructed to temporarily transfer the funds to bank accounts, under the pretext of resolving the bank account or credit or debit card issuer or to make a payment for the outstanding loan.
In some cases, victims would receive an SMS message with headers spoofing the bank's Sender ID, so these would appear as legitimate communications from the bank. The messages would either contain instructions to reset the victim's bank account as part of Singapore's efforts to combat scams or state that the victim had to transfer money for early loan settlement.
"Victims would only realize that they had been scammed when they contacted the bank via the authentic hotline to verify the new bank account number or when the bank contacted them to verify the reason for the large sum of money transferred," SPF said.
Over the past month, at least 15 victims have lost over S$477,000 to cybercrime that involved fake bank hotlines.
Singapore’s industry regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it would roll out new security measures within two weeks. They are aimed to strengthen the security of digital banking.
“MAS is also intensifying its scrutiny of major financial institutions’ fraud surveillance mechanisms to ensure they are adequately equipped to deal with the growing threat of online scams,” it said.
To mitigate such incidents, governments must help companies deal with cybercrime by developing clear guidelines and protocols.