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In a bid to speed up his computer's performance, a Singaporean retiree downloaded a disk cleanup program, only to lose around S$45,000 of his life savings within the month.

Consequently, he felt he had no choice but to go back to work.

71-year-old Chen Shu (transliteration), who retired three years ago, told Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min) that he only realised what had happened when his bank called him.

47 suspicious transactions had been made, each below S$1,000

In the call on Jan. 31, the bank informed Chen that 47 suspicious transactions had been made on his bank account since 2am that morning.

As such, his account had been frozen, and he was advised to check its transaction history.

Upon doing so, the senior discovered that each of the individual transactions were below S$1,000.

Chen surmised that this was to prevent him from receiving notifications for large transactions.

Nevertheless, he reflected that he might have lost even more money if not for the bank's vigilance.

As it stood, someone had transferred out more than S$37,000 from the account, which originally contained around S$90,000, Chen told Shin Min.

Chen made a police report the next day.

He also arranged with the bank to suspend his credit cards and internet banking account.

Another account containing over S$8,000 had been cleaned out

Wary, Chen decided to check his other two bank accounts.

One particular account containing over S$8,000 had been completely cleaned out, he shared with Shin Min.

27 fraudulent transactions had been made on it.

Had downloaded a disk cleanup program about two weeks prior

Chen told Shin Min that on Jan. 13, he noticed his computer's performance was rather sluggish.

At that time, an ad for a disk cleanup and optimisation program popped up on his screen, and he proceeded to download it.

However, because the program kept sending him notifications, Chen uninstalled it the same day.

Police later told him they suspected his credit card information had been stolen during that period.

'No choice but to go back to work'

Chen revealed that the two affected accounts contained the majority of his retirement savings, and he lost almost half of it.

He could not help but feel a sense of panic at the huge loss.

As such, he told Shin Min that he had no choice but to return to the workforce, and is now working as a part-time industrial management supervisor.

"There's nothing much else I can do in a situation like this," Chen added.

"I just have to put myself out there again and earn some money."

Chen hopes that his experience will serve as a reminder to the public to be careful when downloading applications from the Internet.

Bank, police investigating the matter

Chen revealed to Shin Min that the bank has been investigating the matter.

Since January, he has tried enquiring about the status of his case, but has not received any updates yet.

Chen has also approached the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (FIDReC) for assistance, according to Shin Min.

In response to Mothership's queries, the Police confirmed that a report was lodged, and investigations are ongoing.

Top image via Shin Min Daily News