The police warned the public yesterday against falling for a phishing scam run by cheats pretending to represent the United Overseas Bank (UOB).
There has been a recent spate of victims being cheated after responding to SMSes supposedly sent by UOB, with seven reports lodged this month alone.
Victims who made the reports said they were cheated of at least $20,000. One person was cheated of $5,400. The amounts include euros and Romanian currency.
The SMS sent to the victims informed them of a new account notification. The message included a link (uob-mob.com) and invited the victims to click on it.
Victims were directed to a website resembling the actual UOB site, where they were asked to enter their personal information and credit card details such as their credit card number, date of expiry and card verification value.
Meanwhile, the scammers had downloaded the UOB Mighty app, a legitimate app by the actual bank.
The scammers entered the details provided by the victims into the app.
The victims received a one-time password (OTP) on their mobile phones, which they were prompted to key into the website.
They later received SMS notifications informing them about foreign transactions made on their credit cards.
UOB said in a statement yesterday that it has implemented additional monitoring of card transactions following the phishing attack.
"We remind customers that UOB does not send unsolicited SMS or e-mails asking customers to click on a link and to enter their personal or account details into a website," the bank said.
"If a customer does receive an unsolicited e-mail or SMS which appears to be from UOB, or if they are in doubt, they should call us first before taking any further action. They should not click on any link provided, as this is how an account can be phished."
Customers can call UOB on 1800-222-2121 to report any suspicious transactions.
•For more scam-related advice, visit www.scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam helpline on 1800-722-6688.
Lydia Lam