As the world moves into an era of connected devices, big data, cloud computing and Internet of Things, so have criminals.
Statistics from the Singapore Police Force show that scams remain the main driver of crime in the first half of 2022, with phishing scams the second-most common – after job scams.
In phishing scams, victims typically receive SMSes or calls from fraudsters posing as banks, government agencies or e-commerce sites, and are duped into revealing banking details to these fraudsters, who then make monetary transactions from the victims’ bank accounts. These scams where victims give away their banking credentials to scammers are viewed as “unauthorised” scams, compared with “authorised” ones where victims unwittingly transfer money on their own accord to scammers.
These fraudsters have targeted not only the elderly who are less savvy with digital banking, but also the younger generation who regularly use online payments and
transfers. No one person is immune to scams.
“Scammers do not target any specific customer demographic and everyone is potentially vulnerable to scams. From what we have seen, scam victims do not fall into any particular customer profile. We have seen young and old, digitally savvy individuals and those new to online banking, fall victim to scams,” says Ms Ong-Ang Ai Boon, director of The Association of Banks in Singapore.
Around $7.8 million was lost through 2,301 reported cases of phishing in the first half of 2022,…
