We’ve all heard about online scams. Some online scams can involve sums of just a few hundred dollars but sadly for 65-year-old Madam Lee, she was scammed of $300,000.
$300,000??
But How?
On Wednesday, 13 November, The Straits Times reported that Madam Lee answered a call from someone who claimed to be a Singtel customer service personnel who was calling her to help her with ‘issues’ regarding her broadband connection.
Okay, to be honest, I wouldn’t be suspicious of someone if they called me and said they were trying to help me solve any problems with my wifi because who doesn’t want a better wifi connection?
But the phone call then lasted for more than two hours and other than talking on the phone with the man, Madam Lee also gave him access to her computer and personal information about her banking transactions and even a one-time password (OTP) for her bank account.
“Cyber Police”
The man then said that he would connect Madam Lee to the “Cyber Police” which turned out to be another scammer.
The scammers tried to tell Madam Lee that her IP address was being used by foreigners and even went as far as sending her a picture of a random Russian man whom they claimed was using her account. They also faked a message from the Interpol to make the whole situation more believable.
Lastly, the scammers told her to write some codes down which will be needed by the “cyber police” who would be coming to pay her a visit.
Too Late
Through the phone call, Madam Lee was told not to talk to anyone else and to keep her mobile phone off.
After she hung up, she tried to call Singtel’s official customer service number but couldn’t get through. Only when this happened, she felt uncomfortable so she decided to call her bank.
Her bank then told her that there were many various transfers that were recently made to local and foreign bank accounts and that the withdrawal limits of her accounts were also raised to accommodate the large transfers that were made.
Madam Lee said she didn’t know what was happening till it was all over and that was how she had $300,000 taken out from three different bank accounts she owned.
It was a very traumatising experience for Madam Lee as the money was not just hers but also belonged to family members whom she had joint accounts with.
Not The Only One
Unfortunately, this is not the only case of online scams in Singapore. In this year alone, there have already been 156 of such cases with over $6 million dollars being lost through such scams.
The Singapore Police Force advises people to be vigilant against such scams especially when receiving suspicious phone calls from unknown numbers. Also, they highlighted that banking information like one-time passwords should never be given to other parties.
While none of the $300,000 has been recovered, we hope that the scammers will be caught soon and that there will be justice for Madam Lee.
This case should also serve as a reminder for the rest of us that we could all fall for such scams if we are not careful. So, always stay alert and if you get phone calls from foreign phone numbers you don’t recognise, just play it safe and hang up.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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