SINGAPORE: A new scam that tricks victims into calling fake bank direct lines found in Google search ads has resulted in losses of at least S$495,000, police said on Wednesday (January 19th).
At least 15 people have fallen prey to this new scam variant since December 2021, police added.
Google is working closely with the Singapore police to identify these ads and remove them.
HOW ROUNDING WORKS
The scheme begins with scammers posting advertisements on Google searches, which appear when a user searches for bank contact numbers.
These ads, which provide fake phone numbers, appear as the top search results.
Believing these fake numbers to be genuine, victims would call these numbers and speak to a scammer posing as a bank employee.
“After sharing their reasons for contacting the bank, victims would be notified that there were issues with their bank account, credit/debit cards or loan amount,” police said.
Following this, the scammer would ask the victims to temporarily transfer the funds to the provided bank accounts, under the guise of fixing the bank account or credit/debit card issue or making a payment for the outstanding loan.
Police added: “In some cases, victims received a text message with headers impersonating the bank’s to appear more authentic, claiming that the bank was facilitating the victims’ bank account reset as part of the ‘Let’s Fight Scam.” by the Anti-Scam Center and Singapore Police, or would state that the victim needed to transfer money for early loan settlement.”
The victims would only realize that they had been scammed after contacting the bank via the genuine hotline, or when the bank contacted the victims to verify the reason for the large amount of money transferred.
In response to questions from CNA, a Google spokesperson said it is constantly working to ensure that users’ advertising experiences on its platforms are “safe”.
“If we find advertisers violating our policies or misrepresenting themselves, we take prompt action,” the spokesperson said.
In 2021, Google launched Advertiser Identity Verification in Singapore to provide more transparency and let users know who is advertising to them, and will continue to expand it to all advertisers on its platforms, it added. the spokesperson.
Under this rule, advertisers must verify their identity before serving ads in Google Ads or Display & Video 360. Google currently verifies ads in over 100 regions and lists the advertiser’s name and location in its “About this ad” feature.