SINGAPORE: The police on Tuesday (Aug 15) warned members of the public about a new loan scam variant that involves a malicious Android mobile application.
At least nine people fell victim to the scam between Jul 1 and Aug 13, with their losses amounting to about S$18,000 (US$13,300), the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a news release.
“In these cases, victims would either chance upon advertisements offering loans on online platforms such as Facebook or receive unsolicited text messages through messaging applications, such as WhatsApp,” the police said.
“The scammer will send victims a URL link if they express interest in such loan advertisements.”
As part of the loan application, the URL link will require victims to download an Android package kit (APK) file – an app created for the Android operating system – purportedly for registration or communication.
The app is malware that collects and sends personal data from victims’ phones to scammers.
“The scammers would first entice victims into taking up loans with attractive interest rates but subsequently require loan applicants to pay various ‘fees’ to secure the loans,” SPF said.
If victims refused to pay the fees or tried to cancel their loan application, the scammers would use the victim’s personal data to extort victims into paying the fees.
For example, the criminals will threaten to expose the victims’ compromising photographs or harass people in their contact list, said the police.
“Having been put in fear by the scammers, victims would transfer money to local bank accounts provided by the scammers,” they added.
The malware is able to extract information such as victims’ locations, one-time passwords and contact lists, as well as files stored on their devices.