Online Fraud

Online fraud happens when users are duped into giving away their internet banking login credentials and other confidential information via a phishing scam, or the devices they use for online banking are infected with malware. This information will then be used to transfer money from a customer's account to a fraudulent beneficiary account or 'mule account'.

Phishing ,a word stemmed from password + fishing, is a form of identity theft, where spam emails are sent out to entice the victims to update their banking credentials. The victims are tricked to click on a bogus hyperlink provided in the email. The victims will then be redirected to a fake login site that is identical to the online banking website.

Other common types of scam are as below:
SMS scam happens when users receive an SMS claiming they have won “cash rewards”. They are then lured to respond by following the syndicate’s instructions to apply for internet banking. These SMS scams have been sent out by fraudsters pretending to be from well known organizations.

For phone scam, the fraudster usually attempts to obtain sensitive information over a voice call. The fraudster normally tries to gain the victim’s trust by impersonating a credible individual such as a banking authority or a police investigation officer. Victims may not verify the received calls purportedly made by such persons thinking that the calls are from regulators so called, to avoid embarrassment or as a result of “warnings” given by the "officer".

A credit card scam occurs when users receive a call claiming that their credit card account has a defaulted credit card payment. The syndicate will then issue instructions for users to apply for internet banking and enter their account information. These fraudsters will also instruct users not to perform any banking transactions and not to share with anyone for the next few days.