Woman nearly lost $200k to scam after clicking on pop-up alert to call ‘Microsoft Hotline’

SINGAPORE – A 73-year-old woman was almost conned of close to $200,000 by scammers while she was surfing the web on her computer.

The technical support scam was foiled by the Singapore police and the Hong Kong Police Force’s Anti-Deception Coordination Centre, and they successfully recovered more than $197,000, the police said on Oct 14.

Investigations revealed that on Sept 24, an unknown “pop-up” notification had appeared on the victim’s computer, and it directed her to contact a number that masqueraded as “Microsoft Hotline”.

Upon calling, she was informed that her bank accounts had been compromised and was later redirected to a scammer impersonating an SPF, or Singapore Police Force, “cybercrime department officer”.

The scammer instructed the woman to access her bank accounts while using a screen-sharing application, which the scammer falsely claimed would help to detect possible scams on her accounts.

The move enabled the scammer to gain control of the victim’s bank accounts and led to the illicit transfer of funds out of her bank account to an account based in Hong Kong.

The victim grew suspicious after she was instructed to log in to her bank accounts. She quickly ended the call with the scammer and alerted the police the same day and the banks about her encounter.

Upon receiving the report, the Singapore police traced the funds to a Hong Kong-based bank account and alerted their Hong Kong counterparts to recover the monies.

The police advised the public to turn off their computers immediately to limit any further activities that the scammers can perform if they suspect they have fallen prey to scams.

For more information on scams, the public can visit

scamshield.gov.sg

or call the anti-scam hotline at 1799.

Those with information about such scams can contact the police on 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at

www.police.gov.sg/i-witness

.