SINGAPORE — The police on Monday (April 26) warned of a re-emerging scam where text messages with spoofed bank headers would be sent to victims to trick them into disclosing their credit card details. 

The swindlers would send the spoofed messages to victims — which appear in the same thread as official messages from banks — claiming that their cards had been suspended due to security reasons, the police said in an advisory.

The messages instructed victims to contact a specified number for verification.

When victims contacted the number, they would allegedly be told to provide their National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) number and credit card details.

“Victims would only realise that they had fallen prey to a scam when they discovered unauthorised transactions made with their credit card, or when they contacted the bank’s hotline and were informed that there were no security issues with their card,” the police added. 

The police did not say how many customers had fallen for this ruse since its re-emergence, although they said late last year that they recorded 898 such cases in the first half of 2020, more than 20 times higher than the same period in 2019.

Bank customers had lost S$3.6 million in the first half of last year through such scams, the police said then.

The swindlers would send the spoofed messages to victims — which appear in the same thread as official messages from banks — claiming that their cards had been suspended due to security reasons, the police said.

The police advised the public to adopt these practices to avoid being scammed:

• Be wary of fake SMS messages with spoofed headers and check for grammatical errors in the message
• Always verify the authenticity of the information with an official website or sources
• Never disclose personal or credit card details and one-time passwords to anyone
• Report any fraudulent credit or debit card charges to the bank and cancel the card immediately 

Those who wish to provide information on such scams may call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or make a report online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.

For more advice on scams, the public may visit www.scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam hotline at 1800-722-6688.