A middle-aged woman in Singapore recently found herself involved in an internet scam related to the purchase of snacks, according to Shin Min Daily News.
Fortunately, her spouse detected some suspicious activity and promptly informed the bank to freeze their accounts, thereby safeguarding their hard-earned money.
The couple then subsequently reported the fraudulent scheme to the relevant authorities.
The individual, Mrs. Ho, aged 57, shared her ordeal. On Sunday, the 4th of this month, she stumbled upon an advertisement on the popular social media platform Instagram.
The ad on Instagram showcased a snack brand called “Mcy Frozen Foods” and featured an enticing offer: a package including 12 dumplings, 5 glutinous rice chickens, and 300 grams of steamed pork ribs, all for a remarkably low price of $2 per serving.
Given the unbelievably discounted rate, Mrs. Ho reached out to the supposed “seller” through Instagram. She then followed the instructions provided by the “seller” and proceeded to download an application named “1stMallv1.2” to input her personal details.
However, the application started malfunctioning, preventing Mrs. Ho from completing the payment for her intended purchase.
Initially, Mrs. Ho did not pay much attention to this issue. However, her spouse, Mr. Ho, aged 63 and the owner of a wholesale company, received an email from the bank the following day.
The email informed him that his wife had increased the daily transaction limit on their account from $10,000 to $200,000.
Mr. Ho swiftly sensed that something was amiss and, after discussing the matter with his wife, they realized that they had likely unwittingly downloaded malicious software, which allowed the scammers to gain access to their banking information.
Without delay, they immediately contacted their bank to freeze all their accounts. Mr. Ho mentioned that after the accounts were frozen, the bank recommended that they report the incident to the police.