You’ve heard of the traditional email phishing scams, dating app scams, and probably the more recent scam where scammers have been posing as PDPC officers as well.
But now, it’s time to welcome yet another new type of scam — it has to do with your mobile number and the Singtel Cast app.
Here’s what it’s all about.
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Man Logs into Singtel’s Cast App; Suddenly Hit With $1,000 Bill for PlayStation Gift Cards Nine Days Later
While many Singaporeans were busy chucking $10 bills into ang baos in late January in preparation for Chinese New Year, a 49-year-old man by the surname Yang found himself giving out ang baos of another kind.
In late January, Yang innocuously logged into Singtel’s Cast app. Nine days later, he found out that he had unintentionally given a $1,000 ang bao to scammers — there was a more than $1,000 charge on his Singtel phone bill for purchases he did not make.
Not a very happy CNY at all. But, how did it happen?
According to Shin Min Daily News, Mr Yang had installed the Singtel Cast app on 26 January. If you didn’t already know, the Singtel Cast app allows you to watch just about everything entertainment-related under the sun.
Live sports matches, streaming apps, Singtel TV channel packs — the Cast app has it all.
One way to log in to the Singtel Cast app is via your Singtel mobile number. Once you key in your Singtel mobile number into the app, an OTP wil be sent to you, so that you can complete your login to the app.
And that’s exactly what Mr Yang did. He logged onto the Singtel Cast app using his mobile number. At this point, he did not make any purchases on the app just yet.
So, imagine his surprise when nine days later, on 4 February, he receives a text message from Singtel stating that he had a phone bill of more than $1,000.
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Specifically, the text message from Singtel stated that he had incurred an estimated “Content & Services” bill of $1,208.
The 49-year-old initially thought that perhaps the sum was a data roaming charge from when he visited Malaysia earlier, but it wasn’t.
As it turns out, the charges were incurred for the purchase of PlayStation gift cards. Within just two minutes after Mr Yang had logged into the Singtel Cast app on 26 January, his mobile number had been used to purchase multiple PlayStation gift cards.
These gift cards were of different values — $20, $50, $80, and $100. In sum, these gift cards cost Mr Yang $1,000.
Yet, Mr Yang claimed that he was not the one who made these purchases.
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Additionally, Mr Yang never received OTP verifications for the gift card purchases. For context, according to Shin Min Daily News, purchases made via the Singtel Cast app are charged to your mobile number with an OTP sent to you for verification.
Subsequently, Mr Yang lodged a police report on this incident.
A Phishing Scam at Heart?
According to Singtel, it appears that Mr Yang may have accidentally clicked on a phishing link online, which allowed the scammer to obtain his mobile number and OTPs.
After all, that’s about all a scammer needs to access your Singtel Cast app. Logging in can be done via your mobile number, while purchases are also charged to your mobile number.
Regardless, Singtel, as a gesture of goodwill, has waived the PlayStation gift card charges on Mr Yang’s bill. Mr Yang has also expressed his gratitude for Singtel’s gesture.
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Singtel also added: “We urge all customers to be cautious and to verify the source of information before clicking on a link.”
It always pays (pun not intended) to be alert to scams lah.
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