Scammers took control of the 34-year-old woman's phone after she downloaded a third-party app.
Tan chanced upon a sponsored advertisement on Facebook on May 21 which promised to give people a food blender worth S$80 if they downloaded a shopping app and spent at least S$30 on it. — Image by jannoon028 on FreepikA 34-year-old woman lost close to S$30,000 after scammers took control of her phone when she downloaded a third-party app.
Following instructions given, Tan later downloaded the third-party app from the WhatsApp account onto her Android phone. But on May 25, when the account holder said she could make payments, Tan realised that another person was controlling her phone when a notification popped up asking her approval for a transaction of more than S$4,000 .
Kevin Reed, chief information security officer of cybersecurity company Acronis, said such a scam is a result of malvertising, or malicious advertising, where online platforms allow their users to create advertisements targeting a specific audience and include links to anything from a Web page to a direct software download.
However, he noted, malvertising may soon pose a higher risk to Apple users, at least in Europe, as the company may have to allow users to download applications outside the App Store under the EU’s new Digital Markets Act . It advises customers to take measures such as setting alerts for transactions using their accounts and cards for amounts as low as one cent, or temporarily locking or unlocking their debit or credit cards through their app immediately when they suspect fraudulent transactions have taken place.
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