DBS may introduce short-term measures to deal with new SMS scam variant

SINGAPORE – DBS and the police have prevented over 600 of the bank’s customers from being scammed in May and recovered $173,000 in losses, both organisations said in a statement on Wednesday night (June 8).

However, about 60 people still lost between $60 and $3,000 each due to new phishing scams.

As such, the bank may take “short-term measures that may lead to friction or delay to transactions,” because of a widespread current scam campaign, the statement added.

DBS did not elaborate on what these measures would be, but said that they would be meant to disrupt the scams and protect their customers, and that their bank systems remain secure.

“Members of the public should be prepared for such delays, and their understanding is appreciated.”

The Straits Times has contacted DBS for more details.

Targets of the new variant may receive unsolicited SMSes with tags like ‘SG-DBS’ or ‘DBS-Notice’ claiming that their card had been blocked due to unusual activity, or that their bank account had been frozen due to suspicious activities.

The SMS then directs victims to sign in via an embedded link to verify their identity.

This link redirects victims to a spoofed internet banking log-in page, where victims would be asked to key in their online banking username and password, the statement said.

After entering the spoofed website, the victims would be redirected to another spoofed web page requesting them to key in the One-Time Passwords received on their mobile phones.

This compromises their accounts and allows scammers to siphon off funds, with victims only finding out later.

Banks will never send an SMS with links that can be clicked, it said.

It said: “Members of the public should not click on links in SMS that are purportedly from banks.”

A rash of scams in Singapore, including one last December where nearly 470 OCBC customers lost at least $8.5 million, has resulted in the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Association of Banks in Singapore taking action to protect customers.

An emergency self-service “kill switch” that lets customers freeze their bank accounts if they suspect that their accounts have been compromised is among a slew of measures that will be introduced from Oct 31 this year.

Customers who suspect they are a victim of a scam can call DBS’ dedicated fraud hotline at 1800-339-6963. DBS will assist those customers with necessary follow-up actions including replacing their cards and lodging the fraud report, the statement said.

Members of the public with any information on scams can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.