I know what you’re thinking: how the heck did the scammers withdraw the CPF savings? Because if they could, it’s not a scam: it’s a miracle.
Hold your horses and read on. It’s a scam, and no, you still cannot withdraw your CPF savings when you’re 35 years old.
2 Victims Lost Almost $100k Of CPF Savings Due to Fake Facebook Ads
Have you seen those clickbaity Facebook ads, or those too-true-to-be-true ads on Facebook?
Probably not since most of us no longer use Facebook.
But for people who can already withdraw their CPF savings, they’re still glued to Facebook, watching Wang Lei vomiting expletives and buying seafood that they are probably allergic to.
And yes, that’s why this scam works since people are so used buying stuff from Facebook.
On 17 June, the police said that at least two Android users have lost $99,800 of their Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings in June to scams involving malware.
This means there might be more.
The malware was installed into their phones after they clicked on Facebook ads that promise cheap marketing groceries, like seafood.
But of course, our Android phones aren’t that stoopid: they won’t let malware to be installed…unless you allow it.
The Facebook ads were leading them to download an Android Package Kit (APK) file, the file that is used to install an app in your phone. The apps you downloaded, like Instagram, are all APKs, but because they’re downloaded through the Google Play Store, they’ve been vetted to be safe.
But when you download from a website, you yourself have to vet whether it’s safe, and we all know ChatGPT is even more trustworthy than your own judgement.
The victims had installed the malware, which then remotely accessed their passwords and pin codes. Sometimes, it’ll also direct the victims to fake bank sites so they’d key in their login details.
So, has someone finally coded an app to withdraw our CPF funds?
Unfortunately (or fortunately), no: the victims were of age to withdraw their CPF funds, so the scammers had simply accessed their CPF accounts and withdraw the cash into the victims’ bank accounts.
After that, they accessed the victims’ bank accounts and transferred the money to themselves.
The victims only knew about the scams after they spotted unauthorised transactions in their bank account.
Moral of the story?
If need to, buy seafood only from Wang Lei instead.
And when you see the warning, “Only install apps from trusted source,” please take that warning seriously, because whenever one tries to install any APK, that warning would surface.
The only trusted source is always only from our OS app stores.
