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OCBC BANK CUSTOMER LOST $120K IN FAKE TEXT MESSAGE SCAM; ANOTHER HAD $250K
STOLEN


The victims who reportedly fell victim to phishing scams involving OCBC Bank
lost around $8.5 million in total. PHOTO: ST FILE
David Sun
Published
59 Mins Ago
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SINGAPORE - It took a man and his wife five years to save about $120,000, but in
just 30 minutes, scammers using a fake text message stole the money they had
kept in their OCBC Bank joint savings account.

The couple in their 20s were among at least 469 people who reportedly fell
victim to phishing scams involving OCBC Bank in the last two weeks of December
last year.

The victims lost around $8.5 million in total.



Speaking to The Straits Times, the couple, who declined to be identified, said
they had been saving up to start a family. They have not been able to get their
money back.

The husband works in the e-commerce sector while she is in the hospitality
industry. The man said he received the phishing message with a link at around
noon on Dec 21 last year.

It claimed that an unknown payee had been added to their account, and instructed
him to click on the link if it was not approved by him.




"The SMS looked like it came from OCBC and entered the usual SMS chat history
from OCBC used for authentic banking services," he said.



"The link took me to a site that looks exactly like the OCBC login page."

He then entered his account details, unwittingly handing over control of the
whole account to scammers.

They realised they had been scammed only when the man received SMSes from the
bank informing him of changes and transactions involving the account that had
taken place earlier that afternoon.



He showed ST his text message history. According to the timestamp, the bank
sent him the alert at about 2pm, only for him to receive it past 6pm.

"Had we received the notifications on time, we would have been able to react
faster, and perhaps been able to reach the relevant teams during the same
business day to stop the transactions," said the man.

After news broke that others had also been scammed, the couple decided to start
a group for victims in an attempt to collectively seek answers.

Theirs was not the largest sum stolen.

More On This Topic
Nearly 470 people lose $8.5m in phishing scams involving OCBC Bank
OCBC cautions about SMS scams after customers lose $140k in 10 days

A 38-year-old software engineer who fell prey to the same scam on Dec 28 told ST
that he lost about $250,000 he had been saving since 2010.

The father of a young child with special needs said the loss has been
devastating, and he has been hiding it from his family.

"It's a horrible situation that impacts my whole life," he said.

"I didn't know there was a scam going around... how would I have known?"

Eight victims have reached out to ST to share their frustration.

Responding to queries from ST, Mr Francisco Celio, head of group corporate
security at OCBC Bank, said it has been assisting those affected.

"The recent SMS phishing scam impersonated OCBC and preyed on the fears of
consumers about their personal bank accounts," he said.

"It is particularly aggressive and highly sophisticated in duping consumers into
disclosing their personal banking details despite repeated bank warnings to be
alert and not to do so."

The bank said it has since halted its plans to phase out physical hardware
tokens by the end of March this year, and has also stopped sending SMSes with
links in them in the light of the spate of phishing incidents.

More On This Topic
OCBC continues with physical tokens, reversing plan to phase them out
OCBC's scam detection helped customers save $10m this year

OCBC launched its fraud surveillance system in 2016, and uses machine learning
to assist in detecting and immediately flagging fraudulent transactions which
are then reviewed by a fraud analyst.

It also implemented its anti-financial malware system in 2019. It is able to
identify what device its banking services are accessed from.

Mr Celio added that OCBC's banking systems remain safe and secure and have not
been hacked.

A group of victims issued a statement to ST, alleging that the bank had not
responded fast enough, failed to ensure the security of its SMS channel, and
that remediation for customers was lacking.

"While the attack may have been particularly aggressive, it is OCBC's duty to
their customers to be ready for this," they said.

Cyber security expert Anthony Lim, who is also a fellow at the Singapore
University of Social Sciences, said scammers have advanced software enabling
them to spoof telecommunications services and send SMSes that appear in the same
threads used by real organisations.

He added that even if victims did not provide their one-time passwords (OTP),
they would have sealed their fate when they entered other bank details on the
fraudulent sites.

"Once the victim unwittingly responds by entering the bank account credentials,
the hackers' technologies can divert and capture a copy of the SMS OTP issued by
the bank," he said.

He also said there is a limit to how much a consumer can be protected, and that
consumers need to be aware and protect themselves.

"Quite unfortunately, with regard to such message scams, there is only so much
technology can do (to protect consumers)," he said.

"The best way to avoid falling prey to these is still awareness, and the
accompanying scepticism."

More On This Topic
New variant of phishing scam emerges, victims lost $1m from Jan to May
Banks and police work to thwart scams targeting customers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


TIPS TO AVOID BEING SCAMMED

With scammers using more advanced technologies and software, the simplest advice
may work best - be suspicious of messages sent via SMS or WhatsApp asking for
personal details.

Cyber security expert Anthony Lim said consumers should take the following
precautions when dealing with online transactions and banking details:

• Do not act in a hurry or under duress

• Do not respond to messages asking for personal credentials, passwords or PINs

• Be suspicious of messages sent via SMS or WhatsApp asking for personal details

• Never click on links in such messages

• Never download any attached file in such messages, however interesting or
attractive it may be made out to be

Separately, OCBC Bank advises consumers not to access their bank accounts
through SMS links.

Mobile access to bank accounts should always be done using the official banking
or payment app, or by keying in the bank's URL directly into the browser.

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 * SCAMS
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 * BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

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MCI (P) 031/10/2021, MCI (P) 032/10/2021. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co.
Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2021 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.

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