Tag Archive for: savings

At least 2 Android users lose nearly $100k of CPF savings in June in malware-related scams

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SINGAPORE – At least two Android users lost $99,800 of their Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings in June to scams involving malware.

The police said on Saturday that the victims came across advertisements marketing groceries like seafood on social media platforms, including Facebook.

The victims contacted the businesses through their social media platforms or WhatsApp.

They were sent a URL to download an Android Package Kit (APK) file, an application created for Android’s operating system, to order groceries and make payment. 

APKs are installation files for Android apps that can be downloaded from the Internet and third-party app stores, instead of the Google Play Store.

Apps or APK files from the Internet or a third party could contain phishing malware.

The victims were unaware that the application contained malware that would allow scammers to access the victims’ devices remotely and steal passwords. These included Singpass passcodes, among other details stored in the victims’ devices.

“The scammer might also call the victims to ask for their Singpass passcode, purportedly to create an account on the application,” said the police.

Victims were directed to fake bank sites to key in their login credentials to make payment within the app.

The malware would capture the credentials entered.

The scammers were then able to access the victims’ CPF accounts remotely using the stolen Singpass passcode and make a request to withdraw funds through PayNow.

The police did not state the victims’ ages. CPF members can withdraw some of their savings when they turn 55 and receive monthly payouts under the CPF Life scheme when they reach the eligible age, which is currently 65.

Once the CPF funds were deposited into the victims’ bank accounts, the scammer accessed the victims’ bank applications and transferred the money out via PayNow.

The victims realised they had been scammed when they discovered unauthorised transactions on their bank accounts.

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Navy veteran warns of online scam that cost him his life savings

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John McKendrick said he missed all the warning signs. He may be 80, but the U.S. Navy veteran has a master’s degree and is quite tech-savvy. But still, he said scammers wiped out his bank account. Hear McKendrick tell his story in the video above. “This money that they took, it was money I was living on. It was my main account,” McKendrick said through tears. It all started in March when McKendrick spotted an odd charge on his credit card for what he thought was Norton Security Protection. He said he Googled the company and called a number he found. The person who answered said he needed remote access to his computer to check whether their software was installed. “So I gave them access to my computer to check and they said, ‘No, you don’t have Norton installed, but look what we found. We found all these hackers,” McKendrick said. McKendrick says he was convinced that he needed their expertise. “He said, ‘Well, what we are going to do is we are going to put money into your bank account and that will be what triggers the hackers,” he said. His desktop was suddenly flooded with pop-up scam tabs so McKendrick gave Thomas the deceptive expert his account info and watched what he thought was his bank balance go up by $10,000. “Then, my job was to go and withdraw that money from my account. What I would do to return the money would be to go to a Bitcoin machine,” he said. McKendrick repeated that process every day for a week, each time scanning and sending a receipt to the agent. “So he was assured he would get his money back. Well, as it turns out, that was my money he was getting back,” McKendrick said. By the time he caught on, $94,000 was gone. Money he’s been saving for a final goodbye to his late wife. “I was planning out things where I was going to spend part of it on a lovely celebration in London, the funeral service we were going to have,” he said through tears. McKendrick filed a police report and has spoken to his local representatives and reached out to his bank. He said even if he doesn’t get his money back, he hopes his story will stop someone else from making the same mistakes.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —

John McKendrick said he…

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One wrong click could wipe out your savings

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KUALA LUMPUR: Thanks to smartphones, we have the entire world at our feet, but one wrong click could be enough to put your data and life savings at risk.

Of late, some individuals have reportedly suffered losses from cyber-crime frauds. The issue has undoubtedly triggered concerns among the public, especially on the cyber security risk level of the nation’s financial institutions.

Without a doubt, the spate of cyber crime cases has caused some members of the public to lose faith in banks as the custodian of public money as they felt that their deposits are no longer safe in the bank. Of concern are reports that banks are not taking responsibility for the crimes which are committed before “their very eyes.”

In light of these developments, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has recently instructed financial institutions to implement five measures to further strengthen safeguards against financial scams.

Among others, banks are required to migrate from SMS One Time Passwords (OTP) to more secure forms of authentication; tighten fraud detection rules and triggers for blocking suspected scam transactions; and customers will be restricted to one mobile or secure device for the authentication of online banking transactions.

Meanwhile, the banking industry has also launched the National Scam Awareness Campaign to help members of the public remember three simple steps, also known as the 3-second rule, that is, ‘Stop, Think, Block (‘Awas, Fikir, Blok’).

Data intrusion

However, albeit the various initiatives undertaken by the relevant authorities, experts said the financial fraud will continue to rear its ugly head as long as users lack the technological knowledge and are letting their guard down.

A senior lecturer at the School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia Dr Juhaida Abu Bakar told Bernama, ‘phishing’ is commonly used by cyber criminals to ‘fish’ for users’ data from their smartphone.

She said through phishing, bank customers are trapped by the various links via e-mails, SMS and also mobile apps that are sent by irresponsible parties including scammers or hackers to their smartphone.

She said phone users are also exposed to mobile spyware, a…

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IBM & Ponemon Institute: Business Continuity Management Helps Drive Time and Cost Savings Following Data … – SYS-CON Media (press release)

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IBM & Ponemon Institute: Business Continuity Management Helps Drive Time and Cost Savings Following Data …
SYS-CON Media (press release)
ARMONK, N.Y., June 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the results of an IBM sponsored global study examining the impact of business continuity management (BCM) on the cost of a data breach, which revealed that companies …

data breach – Google News