The Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday urged residents to be aware of a new deception in which fraudsters pretended to be holders of genuine WhatsApp accounts to send scam messages to victims, according to a PJ statement yesterday.
Unlike in the past when scammers randomly spammed members of the public with a large number of SMS messages, PJ’s Anti-Deception Coordination Centre (ADCC) has recently noticed the occurrence of multiple phone scam cases using the new method, in which the scammers fraudulently claim that the victims’ accounts were involved in a breach of the law and therefore were about to be suspended by WhatsApp, the statement said.
According to the statement, the fraudsters asked the victims to click on the links to complete a “verification” process, after which they were redirected to another WhatsApp account used by the fraudsters, who then provided the victims with a six-digit number, asking them to enter the number in their phones.
However, the statement said, this is actually the verification code of the victims’ WhatsApp accounts, and once the victim enters the code as requested, his or her account will immediately be logged in by the fraudster elsewhere, who then can hack the victims’ accounts and steal their personal data for unlawful purposes, the statement said.
The Judiciary Police reminded members of the public in the statement that WhatsApp will never ask members of the public to click on any link through SMS or software messages to deal with account suspension issues, no matter how realistic it appears to be, adding that any genuine WhatsApp account has a “blue tick” beside the name of the account holder.
One may call the PJ anti-scam hotline on 8800 7777 or the crime report hotline on 993 for assistance if one suspects that they are a victim of fraud or other crimes.
Be wary of bogus calls from Fire Services Bureau: CB
In addition, the Fire Services Bureau (CB) received reports from a number of local vehicle maintenance and spare parts suppliers claiming that they have received phone calls from a person claiming to be a “staff member of the Fire Services Bureau”, requesting them to send their staff to the bureau to carry out inspections on vehicles, batteries, tyres or auto parts, according to a CB statement last night.
During the process, the scammer also requested that the victims add their contact details through mobile phone communication software, the statement said.
The bureau clarified that it has nothing to do with such calls and that they will be reported to the police for further investigation, the statement said, urging members of the public, businesspeople in particular, to remain highly vigilant, and to doublecheck any messages appearing to have been sent by the bureau, in order to prevent fraud.
This poster provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows details about the scam messages.