When a 50-year-old man in Singapore expressed interest in buying cheap alcohol promoted via a Facebook ad, scammers convinced him to download a malicious app which gave them control over his phone.

Despite not making a transaction on the app, he was tricked into revealing his bank details when scammers arranged for a S$10 "rebate" to be sent to his bank account.

He found out the next morning that one of his bank accounts had been raided, with S$60,000 transferred out to two unknown accounts.

Enticed by '50 per cent off' alcohol promotion

The victim, Adrian Kong, told The Straits Times that he had seen the alcohol promotion which promised "50 per cent retail price", while browsing through Facebook.

This was at about 9.30pm on Aug. 30.

Enticed by the offer, Kong contacted the seller, who went by the name "Mr Dizzy", on Facebook Messenger.

He then asked if he could purchase 12 cans of Asahi beer, for the listed price of S$42 in total.

Kong, who works as a consultant in the finance sector, said he did not suspect the scam because the scammers claimed to accept cash on delivery.

This reassured him because he did not have to risk making an online transaction.

Installed third-party app to order & get 'rebate'

Kong received an URL on WhatsApp from the seller, which led him to download and install a third-app called "Go-shop v3.6".

He then placed an order on the app, which supposedly entitled him to a rebate.

Nevertheless, Kong did not make any transactions using the app.

Checked bank account after getting S$10 'rebate'

At 9.50pm, he received a notification from DBS that S$10 had been sent to his account.

At this point, "Mr Dizzy" texted Kong and asked him to check his banking app, to see if he had received the "rebate".

Kong complied, and entered his bank account via his phone to check.

However, thinking back, Kong reckoned that the scammers already had control of his phone at this point, and were able to see the bank details he keyed in.

Realised OCBC account locked due to downloaded app

Around 2am, Kong tried to access his OCBC account on his phone, but was unable to enter the app.

He received a notification that a third-party app called "Go-shop" was interfering with the OCBC app.

This is due to a new security feature on the OCBC Digital app implemented in August, which blocks the use of the app when potentially malicious apps are detected on one's device.

It also prompts users to uninstall those apps or adjust their accessibility settings.

Kong flagged this up to "Mr Dizzy", who apologised for the inconvenience and offered to arrange a meet up, to help him uninstall the app.

By this point, Kong was feeling uneasy.

"I had a funny feeling after I put down the phone and went to sleep. And true enough, the next morning, the worst happened," he shared.

Unauthorised transactions amounting to S$60,000

At 9am the next day, Kong accessed his DBS bank app, only to find that four unauthorised PayNow transactions had been made from his account, and another transaction of around S$16,000 had been declined.

Sums between S$7,683.30 and S$19,882.50 had been transferred to unknown contacts named "Kumara" and "Mohammad Sharul".

He lost S$60,000 in total.

No money from his OCBC account was lost.

He also realised that DBS had sent him an email at 2:59am when he was asleep, notifying him that his transfer limit to other banks had been increased to S$125,000.

Money he had set aside for children's expenses

Kong later told his shocked wife about what happened, and reported the incident to the bank and the police.

He admitted to ST that S$60,000 was a "huge" amount to a middle-income family, and said it was the money that had been set aside for his children's tuition and daily expenses.

After the incident, Kong alerted friends that he had sent the Facebook ad to, and also reported the scam post to Facebook.

He hoped that other users would be alert to such scams in the future.

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

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Top image from engin akyurt on Unsplash.