On February 10, the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) of the Royal Malaysia Police revealed a new tactic by criminals to hack victims’ bank accounts. As of yesterday, the police have received five reports involving the fraudulent tactic. The cumulative loss amounted to RM58,844! The reports involved three reports in Johor and one report each in Penang and Sabah.
Now, imagine that criminals steal your hard-earned money. Anger and sadness will surely envelop anyone who falls victim to a criminal.
Therefore, Bjak will share the modus operandi of the new tactic of hacking one’s bank account and how to avoid becoming its victim.
New tactic of criminals hacking bank accounts
As widely covered by the media, hackers employ many tactics to hack bank accounts and rob the victims’ money. Among the tactics used are disguising as authorities such as police officers, IRB (Inland Revenue Board) officers and insurers. The latest hacking tactic revealed by CCID yesterday is advertising on social media.
Bukit Aman CCID director Datuk Mohd Kamarudin Md Din, in a statement on CCID’s official Facebook page, said their investigation found that the criminals used social media to advertise the ‘sale’ of goods or subscription of pay television channels. In addition, he said the hackers would keep changing their advertisements to lure more victims.
Mohd Kamarudin further explained that the criminals would ask any of the victims interested in getting any of the products to download an APK file (Android Package Kit) sent by the criminals via WhatsApp.
The victims would then be asked to install the APK file on their smartphones. The installation is said to be required to open an account to use the application. The victims need to enter their identity card number, bank account, and credit card particulars, among others. CCID also found that the application can replace the short message service (SMS) system on the smartphone installed with the application.
Unaware of the suspicious application installation, the victims would disclose their banking particulars to the criminals. The criminals would then use the information to hack the bank accounts and transfer out the victims’ money.
Do not download suspicious applications
Referring to the same statement, Mohd Kamarudin reminded the public not to download applications from dubious sources.
He added that one must safeguard the security of the SMS system on their smartphone. This is because the SMS system is used to send the OTP (One-Time Password) or TAC (Transaction Authorisation Code) from various applications installed on one’s smartphone.
Additionally, if you have any doubts, advice or information related to any commercial crime, please contact the CCID Response Center at 03-26101559/03-26101599.
Beware of hacking
Personal information such as your bank account particulars can be accessed via your smartphone or electronic device. If criminals find out the details, you risk losing your money in a blink of an eye.
Hence, please do not download or click on any suspicious application or link. Ensure that you verify the source of the application or link. Additionally, if you get a call from anyone claiming to be an authority and requesting your personal information, do not provide any information. End the call and get verification from the authorities.
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