15-6-2023 (SINGAPORE) In a significant development, eight individuals between the ages of 19 and 35 have been apprehended for their suspected involvement in a series of banking-related malware incidents. The police announced this on Thursday, revealing that since March, they have received numerous reports regarding the use of malware to compromise mobile devices, leading to unauthorized transactions from victims’ bank accounts, even though they had not disclosed their one-time passwords to anyone.
Following an islandwide operation conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, four men and four women believed to be connected to several reported incidents were taken into custody. During the raid, law enforcement seized S$3,800 in cash, a cashier’s order worth S$9,912.56, and two mobile phones, according to the police.
Two of the men, namely Raphael Cher, 24, and Putra Alfian Ahmad Said, 22, were charged on Thursday with one count each of acquiring benefits from criminal conduct. The remaining six individuals are currently under investigation for their alleged involvement in acquiring benefits from criminal conduct and unauthorized disclosure of access codes.
The police are urging the public to exercise caution and refrain from downloading suspicious files from unknown sources, as they may contain malware. “To avoid becoming accomplices to crimes, members of the public should always reject requests from others to use their bank accounts or mobile lines, as they will be held accountable if these are linked to crimes,” emphasized the police.
They further added, “We will spare no effort to track down cyber criminals responsible for the banking-related malware incidents.”
In April, the police, in collaboration with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, issued a warning to the public about downloading apps from dubious sites, as such downloads can lead to the installation of malware on victims’ mobile phones. They cautioned that this type of malware has resulted in the theft of confidential and sensitive data, including banking credentials.
During the same month, the police also alerted the public to the resurgence of phishing scams involving malware installed on victims’ Android phones. They disclosed that since March, at least 113 victims have lost a total of at least S$445,000 to these scams.
