Received a scam call today – for awareness /u/Gymrat76 Singapore

Just wanted to share for awareness, in case you/your loved ones get this, or something similar.

I received a call today from a mobile number while buying lunch. I ordinarily don’t pick up, but I was expecting a call from someone so I answered.

The person on the other side identified himself as being from Maybank and asked me if I was <my name> with the NRIC ending with <my last 4 digits of NRIC>. I said yes, what’s this about?

He then said from records, there was a transaction of $1900 on my Maybank credit card and they were calling to confirm that the transactions were made by me. I couldn’t make out WHERE the transactions were made to as it was pretty noisy in the hawker center, but I replied that it was impossible as I had already closed off all my Maybank accounts and cards some months ago (which was true). By this time my brain was telling me this was a scam call so I was on alert.

He said he would check and I could hear sporadic typing in the background and he came back on the line a few seconds and asked if my NRIC ended with <last 4 digits of my NRIC> to which I said yes (heck, its public info by this point).

He went on to say that his records showed that I had opened an account in early January this year and there were 2 transactions on my card totaling $1900. I then asked him which Maybank branch did I supposedly open this account at, and he replied the Jurong Point branch.

He then asked me if I had received a notification about the transactions, to which I replied that I had already deleted all Maybank apps etc. after the accounts were closed. I then asked him, “so what next?:

He said he needed to “check bank protocols” and the pretend-typing started again. He then came back on the line in a few seconds and said I needed to do a few things. Firstly, he couldn’t close the accounts for me, as there were outstanding transactions on my card. So I needed to make a report with MAS. He then asked me “you know what is MAS?”

By this time, I had been on the phone with him for 5 minutes and auntie was waiting for me to pay her with my CDC voucher, so I just cut him off and said I would call the Maybank hotline directly and hung up. I’m sure the next steps would involve some sort of payment or maybe even disclosing some bank particulars or such.

After lunch, I went back and gave Maybank a ring, and they confirmed that I had no open accounts with them. I have since lodged the report with Maybank, and also an online police report on this. Maybank did tell me I’m not the first to receive such calls and it was good that no personal or sensitive information was disclosed to the scammers.

Some signs that told me it was a scam:

1. The number received was from a mobile phone

2. I did not have any accounts with Maybank, but they’re more creative by throwing in the “someone opened an account under your name/NRIC”

3. From point 2 above, I know that you cannot open a bank account without being physically present at the branch with your NRIC, or online without your Singpass, and since I’m relatively sure my Singpass is secure, and my NRIC is always with me, its 99% a scam

4. When he pretended to check, operators usually put you on hold, and it’s never taken quicker than 30 seconds (at least!) for them to get back to you. An under 10-second wait is definitely sus

Sorry for the long post, I hope sharing more details will help more recognize that the scams are becoming not only more rampant but more creative. And unmasking of the NRIC definitely doesn’t help the situation!

Just wanted to share for awareness, in case you/your loved ones get this, or something similar.

I received a call today from a mobile number while buying lunch. I ordinarily don’t pick up, but I was expecting a call from someone so I answered.

The person on the other side identified himself as being from Maybank and asked me if I was <my name> with the NRIC ending with <my last 4 digits of NRIC>. I said yes, what’s this about?

He then said from records, there was a transaction of $1900 on my Maybank credit card and they were calling to confirm that the transactions were made by me. I couldn’t make out WHERE the transactions were made to as it was pretty noisy in the hawker center, but I replied that it was impossible as I had already closed off all my Maybank accounts and cards some months ago (which was true). By this time my brain was telling me this was a scam call so I was on alert.

He said he would check and I could hear sporadic typing in the background and he came back on the line a few seconds and asked if my NRIC ended with <last 4 digits of my NRIC> to which I said yes (heck, its public info by this point).

He went on to say that his records showed that I had opened an account in early January this year and there were 2 transactions on my card totaling $1900. I then asked him which Maybank branch did I supposedly open this account at, and he replied the Jurong Point branch.

He then asked me if I had received a notification about the transactions, to which I replied that I had already deleted all Maybank apps etc. after the accounts were closed. I then asked him, “so what next?:

He said he needed to “check bank protocols” and the pretend-typing started again. He then came back on the line in a few seconds and said I needed to do a few things. Firstly, he couldn’t close the accounts for me, as there were outstanding transactions on my card. So I needed to make a report with MAS. He then asked me “you know what is MAS?”

By this time, I had been on the phone with him for 5 minutes and auntie was waiting for me to pay her with my CDC voucher, so I just cut him off and said I would call the Maybank hotline directly and hung up. I’m sure the next steps would involve some sort of payment or maybe even disclosing some bank particulars or such.

After lunch, I went back and gave Maybank a ring, and they confirmed that I had no open accounts with them. I have since lodged the report with Maybank, and also an online police report on this. Maybank did tell me I’m not the first to receive such calls and it was good that no personal or sensitive information was disclosed to the scammers.

Some signs that told me it was a scam:

1. The number received was from a mobile phone

2. I did not have any accounts with Maybank, but they’re more creative by throwing in the “someone opened an account under your name/NRIC”

3. From point 2 above, I know that you cannot open a bank account without being physically present at the branch with your NRIC, or online without your Singpass, and since I’m relatively sure my Singpass is secure, and my NRIC is always with me, its 99% a scam

4. When he pretended to check, operators usually put you on hold, and it’s never taken quicker than 30 seconds (at least!) for them to get back to you. An under 10-second wait is definitely sus

Sorry for the long post, I hope sharing more details will help more recognize that the scams are becoming not only more rampant but more creative. And unmasking of the NRIC definitely doesn’t help the situation!