Acquaintances Asking You for Loan? Their Accounts May Have been Controled by Scammers

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) recently issued a reminder via its official website against fake job listings and related scams in social media.

Recently, scammers have been posting fake job listings on Facebook and hacking into victims' WhatsApp accounts via malware.

The victims were attracted by the fake job ads and contacted the scammers through the WhatsApp numbers left in the advertisements. Under the pretext of collecting personal particulars, the scammers lured the victims to download Android Package Kit from WhatsApp. However, these APKs contain malware that steals data from the victim's phone and even controls the phones.

Once the scammers have control of the phone they contact acquaintances on the victim's contact list and ask them for loans.

The police take this opportunity to remind the public to pay attention to the security of their personal accounts and be cautious of messages posted on social media and suspicious requests in WhatsApp. Download and install software through official channels and be careful to check the details such as the name of the App developer.