WhatsApp accounts hacked to acquire bank card details

Recently a new scam has emerged in Singapore where hackers are found to take-over WhatsApp accounts of people. This leads to the acquisition of personal user-info, such as bank account details from the victims. According to the police, 18 such cases have been reported since December 2019.

The hackers use a compromised WhatsApp account to ask the victim for a 6 digit verification code. Once that code is provided, the victim loses access to his/her account. By impersonating the victims’ friends on jeopardized WhatsApp accounts, fraudsters and scammers would ask for the victims’ contact details and photos of their bank cards as well. 

The hackers then insist on helping the victims sign up and claim prizes from phony lucky draws supposedly conducted by Lazada, Shopee or Qoo10. One time password (OTP) is also sometimes required by hackers. The case was revealed when the victims noticed bank transactions that they had never done. The Police further stated that scammers were previously adopting similar strategies but through other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

It is advised that individuals should avoid exchanging their account verification codes with anyone, including their friends and family members. WhatsApp users are emphasized to enable the application’s two-step verification feature to inhibit others from manipulating their accounts.