Sep 29 2023, 03:11 PM, updated 3y ago
SINGAPORE – For six hours, a 74-year-old man chatted online with a friendly roast duck seller he met on Facebook, only to find his life savings almost wiped out after.
Mr Loh lost about $70,000 to scammers who siphoned money from his DBS and POSB credit card and bank accounts after infecting his Android phone with malware.
He had chanced upon a Facebook advertisement for a peking duck from a supplier called “Xiao Xiao Ya Zi” on Aug 26.
He was enticed by the deal that offered $23.80 for a 1.5kg peking duck with $5 shipping and contacted the seller on Facebook.
The seller texted Mr Loh on WhatsApp and instructed him through voice messages to download a third-party app called Grab&Go on his phone. The app prompted him to make a $5 payment through PayNow as a “deposit” before his order could be placed.
Mr Loh, who used to work as an importer, was initially suspicious of the ad but let his guard down when the seller convinced him that the promotion was not a scam.
“I asked him: ‘Is this a scam?’ He said that no one would be cheated of $5 and that this was a small thing. He told me that I had a lot of wisdom and experience. I agreed to proceed since this was a matter of only $5,” he told The Straits Times.
Get a round-up of the top stories to start your day
Sign up
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and T&Cs.
Within minutes, while he was still chatting with the seller, he noticed that his phone screen had gone blank.
When his phone restarted multiple times within 30 minutes, Mr Loh tried to close the third-party app and turn off his phone but failed.
Panicking, Mr Loh reached out to the scammer, who then reassured him that the phone reset was normal.
His wife, who overheard the conversation, realised something was amiss and called their daughter. She then got her brother to call DBS immediately.
The bank officer told the family that the scammers had raised Mr Loh’s transaction limit, which was set at $3,000. They transferred about $59,000 out of his DBS current account and POSB savings account. The scammers also took a credit advance of about $11,000 using his DBS credit card.
He said he had set aside that money for his retirement and medical expenses.
“I couldn’t believe the news. I thought: Why am I so stupid? I was so angry at myself for being cheated of my life savings. My family is frustrated and I ended up quarelling with my wife,” said Mr Loh, who has three children.
Woman loses over $44k after downloading third-party app to buy fish
Woman loses $76,000 after downloading third-party app to buy mooncakes
His daughter, who only wants to be known as Ms Ang, said that she had warned her parents about such scams.
“As his children, we are all heartbroken that he was scammed even after we educated our parents about such scams. We thought we had done enough to minimise the risk,” she said.
He sought help from DBS and made a police report on Aug 27.
The police confirmed that a report had been made and investigations are ongoing.
ST has contacted DBS, which also runs POSB, for comment.
Mr Loh also questioned why he did not receive any notifications when his transaction limits were increased.
“I know that some banks require a 12-hour cooling off period when there is an increase (in funds transfer limits). But my credit limit was changed immediately without my permission and knowledge,” he added.
Mr Loh has since changed his handphone and deleted his Facebook and Internet banking apps.
He said: “What I learnt was to not trust people online so easily. I’m not familiar with technology so it would be best to ask my children to help me buy something online rather than I do it myself.”
In the first half of 2023, at least $10 million in total was lost by over 750 scam victims due to unauthorised banking transactions performed by malware, which also resets the victims’ phones.
From mooncakes to fish and durian day tour tickets, the “sellers” of such goods and services on social media have been instructing interested buyers to click on links to download a third-party apps, which then allowed them to take control of the victims’ phones.
OCBC, UOB and DBS have recently announced greater controls aimed at protecting customers against malware-enabled scams.
For example, DBS will be pushing out a new anti-malware tool on its DBS/POSB digibank app progressively from September.
The anti-malware tool will restrict DBS users’ access to their app if it detects the presence of malware, apps downloaded from unverified app stores with accessibility permissions enabled, or ongoing screen sharing on a customer’s device.
Once a known malware is detected, customers will receive a pop-up notification requesting that they secure their devices. They can do so by disconnecting their mobile devices from the Internet and deleting suspicious apps to regain access to their banking app.
Woman loses over $111,000 after downloading third-party app to buy durian tour ticket
Banking apps get enhanced measures to protect users against malware scams
Dive deeper into ST at $9.90/month
Get exclusive reports and insights with more than 500 subscriber-only articles every month. Start paying $9.90/month from Nov 1.
ST One Digital
$9.90/month
No contract
ST app access on one mobile device
Subscribe now
Unlock these benefits
All subscriber-only content on ST app and straitstimes.com
Easy access any time via ST app on one mobile device
E-paper with two-week archive so you won't miss out on content that matters to you
Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
INTERNET CRIMES AND SCAMS SCAMS ANDROID
FacebookWhatsApp
YOU MAY LIKE
How HDB Sellers Sold Their HDB In 4 Days At $1.31 MillionAd
How HDB Sellers Sold Their HDB In 4 Days At $1.31 Million
Propseller
What’s my car worth? Online Calculator for Car ResaleAd
What’s my car worth? Online Calculator for Car Resale
find out the value in a few clicks of cars and motorcycles
TrendingResults
I queue, I buy, I sell: New iPhone 15 being resold online soon after official launch in S’pore
I queue, I buy, I sell: New iPhone 15 being resold online soon after official launch in S’pore
THE STRAITS TIMES
Available for
iPhones and iPads
Available in
Google Play
E-paper
Podcasts
RSS Feed
Telegram
Youtube
TikTok
SINGAPORE
ASIA
WORLD
OPINION
LIFE
BUSINESS
TECH
SPORT
VIDEOS
PODCASTS
MULTIMEDIA
About Us
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy
Need help? Reach us here.
Advertise with us
Sign up for our daily newsletter
Sign up
More newsletters
By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy.
MCI (P) 076/10/2022, MCI (P) 077/10/2022. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2023 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/74-y...-buy-roast-duck
This post has been edited by 11c: Sep 29 2023, 03:15 PM
Quote
0.0711sec
0.43
5 queries
GZIP Disabled