Microsoft and NCPC Warn of Rising Phone Scam in Singapore

Microsoft and National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) in Singapore have issued a joint announcement on the rising of IT related phone scams in Singapore. In such phone scams, scammers normally pretend to be representatives of well-known IT brands to trick victims.

In my opinion, if someone who called you wanted you to download a software and execute them, your “alarm” must be on by now. Here are some information that you can take note (from Microsoft and NCPC).

Typical Phone Scam Operation

  1. A scammer, claiming to be a Microsoft technical support staff or a Microsoft partner, calls up a victim andinforms him/her that their computers or notebooks may be experiencing problems and are in need of a security or software update;
  2. The scammer may have many personal details of the victim, for example, name and home address, so as to convince the victim that he/she is a genuine representative from Microsoft;
  3. Once the victim is convinced that the call is genuine, the scammer would ask the victim to download and install one or more software from the Internet. The victim would be asked to provide the software user account identification codes and passwords to the scammer. In some cases, the scammer would direct the victim to a website that allows remote control of the computer; and
  4. Once access has been gained into the victim’s computer, the scammer would remotely control or delete files to convince him/her to buy additional software by making online payments or providing their credit card details. In some cases, the scammer may  gain access to confidential data within the victims’ computers that can be used for illegal online transactions.
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Prevention

Members of the public are advised to adopt the following crime prevention measures:

  • Ignore such calls;
  • Do not follow the instructions of the callers to install any software into your computer or enter any commands; and
  • Do not make any payment or divulge your credit card or bank account details to the callers.

Concerned public members can contact Microsoft Singapore at 800-852-3543 if they have further queries or concerns about phone scams.

Victim(s) of Phone Scams

Victims of phone scams should immediately report the matter to the police at 999.

Here is the full Press Release.


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