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一名新加坡70岁男子因在手机上点击了一个恶意的伪造Google Play应用程序，仅两小时内就损失了约7.1万新元。这名男子化名为Loo，他在接受《新明日报》采访时透露，1月29日上午9点左右，他接到了一名星展银行工作人员的电话。工作人员告诉他，从凌晨3点到5点，他的账户里有多笔款项被转至海外，转出的款项共计7.1万新元。此后，Loo的账户仅剩约2,000新元。在这个过程中，他失去了在1月份领到的3万新元养老金。此外，他的信用卡还被刷走了6,000多新元，至今尚未还清。
Loo随后向警方报案，并将手机交给警方进行调查。据星展银行发言人透露，警方调查发现Loo的手机被恶意软件攻破。这种情况可能在人们从未经授权的网站下载带有恶意软件的应用程序时发生。恶意软件允许黑客“控制”移动设备，进行欺诈性的在线交易。然而，星展银行已联系Loo，提出善意补偿。新加坡警方和新加坡网络安全局也发表了联合声明，警告公众不要从第三方或可疑网站下载应用程序，并建议采取相应措施以确保充分保护自己。
A 70-year-old man in Singapore lost about S$71,000 in just two hours after he clicked on a malicious fake Google Play application on his phone. The man, known as Loo (not his real name), told Shin Min Daily News that he received a call from a DBS Bank staff at around 9am on January 29. The staff informed Loo that multiple transfers of money were made from his account to foreign countries from 3am to 5am, totaling S$71,000. Afterward, only about S$2,000 was left in his account. In the process, Loo lost his S$30,000 pension that he received in January. Additionally, more than S$6,000 was charged to his credit card, which he has not repaid yet.
Loo subsequently reported the matter to the police and handed his phone over to them for investigation. According to a DBS spokesperson, police investigations revealed that Loo’s phone was compromised by malware. This can happen when one downloads applications laced with malware from unauthorized sites. Malware allows hackers to “take control” of a mobile device to perform fraudulent
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) fiercely criticizes the recent disruption of DBS’s online banking services as “intolerable” and vows to take “supervisory actions.”
DBS “Falls Woefully Short of MAS’ Expectations” Singapore’s central bank and financial regulatory authority sternly stated on Mar. 29 that it places great importance on the reliability of banks’ critical IT systems, and that DBS has woefully fallen short of MAS’s expectations to ensure the availability of its systems at a high level and to recover its IT systems expeditiously.
This disruption comes just a year after a similar incident in November 2021, MAS pointedly noted.
“MAS has been closely monitoring DBS to ensure a swift recovery of its digital services and timely communications to customers regarding the disruption,” MAS said.
MAS Promises Supervisory Actions After DBS Investigation MAS remarked that the bank has since resumed normal digital banking services and is keeping a watchful eye on the situation.
Nonetheless, MAS has instructed DBS to conduct a comprehensive investigation to ascertain the root cause of the disruption and submit its findings to the regulator.
MAS asserted it “will take commensurate supervisory actions after gathering the necessary facts.”
Background DBS Bank’s online banking services faced disruptions starting from Wednesday (Mar. 29) morning.
Numerous customers using DBS and POSB online banking apps, as well as PayLah! users, were unable to access the services.
Users were alerted that the bank was “experiencing heavy traffic” to its services and were advised to log in later.
DBS provided an update on Facebook at 12:49 pm stating that access to digital services was “intermittent,” and later announced that their digital services had returned to normal as of 5:45 pm.
“We Deeply Regret the Inconvenience Caused”: DBS In a statement on Mar. 29, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta expressed the bank’s disappointment that many of their customers were unable to access DBS digital banking services.
He added, “We hold ourselves to higher standards, and it is our utmost priority to scrutinize the events of today. We acknowledge the gravity of the situation, appreciate our customers’ understanding, and deeply regret the inconvenience caused.”