Singapore, 25 February 2020… There have been fraudulent messages and calls to members of the public that impersonate MAS staff and request for personal or bank account information. Anyone who receives such messages or calls should not disclose personal information including internet banking or credit card details, bank account username, Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) or One-Time Passwords (OTPs). MAS officers will never ask members of the public for personal banking information nor security login credentials.
2 These fraudulent calls may be received as regular phone calls or via applications such as ‘Viber’ or ‘WhatsApp’. The calls may originate from local or overseas numbers and the perpetrators would use Caller ID spoofing technology to mask their actual phone numbers and instead, display a MAS contact number. They may also use MAS’ logo as the profile picture on Viber’ or ‘WhatsApp’. The person receiving the call would typically be told that his or her bank account had been locked or suspended, and would be offered assistance to resolve the matter. The victim would then be asked to provide details of his or her bank account, internet banking user ID and password. There are also similar deceptive schemes where scammers pretend to be staff from banks and attempt to collect the same personal information from victims. Refer to the Singapore Police Force’s recent.
3 Members of the public are advised to take the following precautions:
a) Never disclose your internet/mobile banking or credit card details such as bank account user ID, passwords, Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) or One-Time Passwords (OTPs) to anyone through phone, email or SMS/messaging applications.
b) Do not authorise any suspicious authentication request. For example, do not respond to digital token authentication or OTP requests via phone calls if you did not initiate any internet/mobile banking transaction.
c) Be suspicious of unsolicited messages or calls purporting to be from MAS or banks.
d) If you receive a suspicious call, hang up and report the call to MAS at [email protected] . Do not call the number provided by the caller. Block or report the number as spam on the mobile application.
4 You can provide any information related to such scams by calling the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness . All information will be kept strictly confidential. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.
5 To seek scam-related advice, you may call the anti-scam hotline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg . You may also visit the MoneySense website at http://www.moneysense.gov.sg/Understanding-Financial-Products/Banking-and-Cash/Things-to-Watch-Out-for/Phishing.aspx for more phishing-related advice.
