Woodkirk Stone
Police and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) are working closely with internet service providers to block fraudulent sites and alert users to be vigilant, Ms Teo said on Tuesday.
They blocked around 500 suspected scam websites in 2020 before launching the net “much wider” in 2021 to block 12,000 such websites, she said. “Countless other victims would otherwise have been scammed.”
“In fact, we have the ability to block many other suspicious websites,” she added. “However, that does not mean that they will completely disappear from our screens. Indeed, scammers react quickly and dynamically to such blockages. »
Despite this, Teo said blocking websites remains important and institutions will continue to strengthen detection and reporting mechanisms to be more responsive.
Banks will improve their fraud monitoring systems, she said, while government agencies will explore the use of artificial intelligence to identify and block fraudulent websites more quickly.
“In addition, the National Crime Prevention Council will launch a WhatsApp channel to collect public information about fraudulent websites and messages,” she said, adding that it will be launched by the third quarter of This year.
BLOCK CALLS
While Ms Teo said blocking websites was part of the upstream measures to disrupt the scammers’ plans, she acknowledged that victims could first be contacted by phone or text message before being lured to these sites. website.
She pointed to impersonation scams by Chinese officials, where scammers call from abroad and use “social engineering” techniques to instill fear and panic in victims. They will often try to sound more believable by spoofing local numbers.
Telecom operators block around 15 million suspicious incoming foreign calls each month, or one in seven incoming calls abroad, Ms Teo said.
But she said the number of scam calls is expected to increase as scammers change tactics to increase their reach.
For example, they use numbers that look like local government agency or emergency service phone numbers, or add the country code “65” – without the “+” prefix – to give the impression that they’re calling from Singapore.
To help alert customers, telecom operators have also added the “+” prefix for all incoming overseas calls since April 2020, Ms Teo said.
Still, she said more was needed. Telcos plans to integrate additional analytics capabilities to block more of these suspected fraudulent calls, she said, estimating that up to 55 million calls will be blocked each month.
As for the Do Not Call register, Ms Teo said it was not designed to prevent fraudulent messages, but to allow individuals to opt out of receiving unsolicited telemarketing messages or calls.
“Scammers will of course not bother to check this registry before carrying out their illegal activities,” she said.
SMS spoofing ID
Even though telecom operators can block millions of incoming calls abroad, Ms Teo warned against a false sense of security, noting that scammers might turn to other channels like SMS, as in the OCBC case.
In this case, the scammers used the same alphanumeric identifier as OCBC’s to enter the chat thread between the legitimate business sender and their customer, she said.
This alphanumeric identifier makes it easier for legitimate businesses to advertise themselves to customers, allowing them to receive an SMS from a named entity instead of a string of numbers.
“However, this alphanumeric identifier is not automatically protected as part of the SMS protocol,” Ms Teo said.