Woman’s Debit Card Scammed Even Without Clicking On Links Or Sharing OTPs
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A local woman, Zana, shared her harrowing experience of having her debit card charged with unauthorised purchases despite not clicking on any links or sharing OTPs. In an exclusive interview with our Plan B reporter, Zana shared how she found out about the charges and how the bank helped her in getting her money back.
HOW DID YOU DISCOVER THE UNAUTHORISED PURCHASES?
I just changed my phone so I had to reset my iBanking and digital token. It was barely hours after the reset when I was charged with unauthorised purchases. I received notification saying that I should wait for a few hours before I make such high risk transactions. I was perplexed because the only transaction I made was ordering groceries online.
I logged on my iBanking to check what “high risk” transaction I made. I lost about $100. I checked under my statement and saw that there was a pending payment to an “estore onthehub”.
I panicked and called the bank. The bank could not reverse the charges because it was a pending transaction. But they said that they would monitor the transaction and raise a dispute as well as launch an investigation into the issue.
DID YOU CLICK ON ANY RANDOM LINKS OR IGNORED OTP MESSAGES YOU RECEIVED?
No, I am very vigilant when it comes to such things. I received no links or OTP sms. I simply received the “high risk” transaction sms out of the blue, which spurred me to check my account.
DID THE BANK GIVE YOU CLARIFICATION OR EXPLANATION FOR THE UNAUTHORISED PURCHASES ON YOUR DEBIT CARD?
The bank officer mentioned that I was probably a victim of randomly generated debit card numbers. There is apparently a software that generates random numbers and scammers try their luck with it. Unfortunately, I became one of those victims even when I did nothing wrong.
According to a friend of mine, some transactions will go through because it is not compulsory for merchants to require OTP tokens for payment to be processed. If I did not check my account after receiving that sms, the payment would have gone through without any dispute.
WHEN DID YOU GET YOUR MONEY BACK?
I received it about 7 days after the transaction went through. The bank had to investigate to make sure that I wasn’t the one who made the transaction before refunding me the money. $100 may not be a lot but to me, it is a week’s worth of groceries. However, the money I got back is called “temporary credit” because the investigation is still ongoing.
DO YOU KNOW OF ANY OTHER VICTIMS?
My cousin is also a victim of something similar. She lost about $350 to steamgames.com, an online gaming store. The transactions however were made in small deductions over time. She made a police report but I am not sure if she received her money back.
Zana is not the only one who has been a victim of such scams. A local TikToker, Jezlynne, made a video of how her iBanking had unknown and unauthorised transactions.
According to her video, Jez received an OTP message from Tiger- Full Blast, saying that she made a transaction of USD5 to the merchant. She chose to ignore it because she didn’t make any transaction to the merchant.
Her account was then skimmed over time, transaction of small amounts over time. She called the bank and got her card cancelled eventually.
Someone in the comments section asked Jez how it was possible for her to receive an OTP for a merchant she did not shop at and then end up being hacked. Jez was equally unsure how but mentioned that other people had shared with her similar experiences.
Scammers have been becoming more savvy in recent years. Banking related phishing scams went up from 1340 cases in 2020 to 2237 in 2021. SPF attributed the rise of such scams to the Covid-19 situation, as they prey on the public’s increase in online activities as well as their uncertainty.
“Scammers have been constantly evolving their tactics and taking advantage of the COVID-19 situation to prey on the public’s increase in online activities, and also their heightened sense of vulnerability and uncertainty,” – SPF for CNA
Reporter’s Opinions: On top of not clicking dubious links and sharing OTPs with strangers, it is wise to also clear banking details from your cache after making online transactions. Try not to enable auto save and fill when it comes to banking details online. Savvy scammers know where to find such information online. Be vigilant and wary when you receive weird OTP messages.
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