The recent outbreak of bank deposit theft after bank deposit theft has everyone on edge, fearing they may be the next victim.
According to a Facebook post by a software developer, one of the reasons for bank deposit theft is the indiscriminate downloading of apps. Usually, when you install third-party software, you need to turn on the Allow installation from unknown sources setting on your phone, and once you turn on this setting, your phone’s anti-theft wall is already halfway open.
After installation, the app will ask you to authenticate with a text message and ask you to authorize the app to read your text messages. Once you allow the APP to read your SMS, the OTP or TAC of the bank transfer will be revealed.
Not only can these fraudulent APPs read the text messages from your phone, but they can also delete them afterwards. This is why many victims say they did not receive any SMS TAC or OTP.
Before that, the fraudulent app will ask you to pay a specific fee to activate your account, such as RM1. When you enter your bank login information in the app, the fraudster can see your password in the background. The fraudster can then easily use your password to log into your bank account and view the SMS TAC or OTP that you receive on your phone when you transfer money.
As for some victims having their bank deposits stolen after receiving an SMS, the software developer noted that this could be because the victim’s phone automatically kills the background application and the scammers need to send an SMS to the victim to see the phone activate the application. The scammers could easily use the app to read the text messages on the phone.
Some victims have reported that their bank deposits were stolen after receiving a call. This may be because the scammers check the text messages while the victim was answering the call, distracting the victim so they could use the time to make the transfer and read the text messages.
Some victims also reported that they did not install unknown APPs or click on unknown links, which is related to victims’ understanding of “unknown APPs” and “unknown links”. Some fraudulent APPs can be disguised as normal APPs, such as APPs for watching live beauty broadcasts and APPs for online gambling, which actually have backdoors.
Software developers advise the public not to download software from unknown sources, and not to easily open the phone’s allow unknown sources installation setting. The public is also urged to regularly check the APPs in their phones, and some APPs that are not used frequently should be deleted immediately.
Finally, the public is also urged to check from time to time which APPs in their cell phones are authorized to read SMS functions, and if they find unfamiliar or unreasonable APPs asking to read SMS functions, they should immediately deactivate the APP.
Banks have a responsibility to protect their customers’ deposits, and citizens have a responsibility to protect their privacy from being used by fraudulent groups.
