The Anti-Scam Center (ASC) in Singapore reported a case involving the tracking of funds belonging to a 70-year-old female victim. Despite the perpetrator successfully receiving and transferring money overseas, the authorities, in collaboration with a bank, managed to trace the funds back. The scam involved the fraudster posing as Microsoft in fake computer pop-up ads, deceiving the victim into believing their computer was hacked and prompting them to contact a support center. The victim fell for the fake advertisement and made the call, allowing the scammer to request a bank password reset and the victim to provide OTP from a token.
The scammer spent hours increasing the transfer limit and eventually transferred $170,000 Singapore dollars to the United States, specifically to an Arab Emirates account. Upon realizing the situation, the victim promptly contacted the police, and the ASC, along with DBS Bank, successfully tracked the funds back in full.
Singaporean authorities advise victims to immediately shut down their computers, uninstall any software installed by the scammer, scan their devices for viruses, contact the bank to temporarily freeze the account, change bank passwords, and report the incident to the police.
Image by Mohamed_hassan.
TLDR: ASC and Singaporean authorities managed to track back funds scammed from a 70-year-old victim by a fraudster posing as Microsoft in computer pop-up ads, advising victims on steps to take in such situations.
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