SINGAPORE — The police on Thursday (Aug 17) warned members of the public about a new scam variant that involves malicious Android apps.

Victims of this scam are targeted through messages from purported female subjects on TikTok and dating apps such as MiChat and Tagged, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a news release.

"The victims would be asked to continue the engagement on WhatsApp. The scammers would then entice the victims by asking if they would like to continue chatting via a one-to-one video call while being naked or date the girl of their choice, or to access nude videos (or) photographs of the female subjects," the SPF said.

As with similar scams, the scammers would then send victims a uniform resource locator (URL) link over WhatsApp for them to download an Android package kit (APK) file. APK files are used to install apps created for the Android operating system.

"After downloading and installing the APK file, the scammers would be able to retrieve the victims' banking credentials once they log in to their internet banking accounts," the SPF said.

"Subsequently, victims discovered unauthorised transactions from their banking accounts."

Since July, at least 19 victims have lost a total of about S$13,000 to scammers using these tactics.

The police reminded members of the public that it is dangerous to download apps from third-party or dubious sites.

They advised people to take the following precautionary measures to avoid falling victim to such scams:

• Download antivirus or anti-malware apps available on the official Play Store or App Store
• Update devices' operating systems and applications regularly to be protected by the latest security patches
• Disable "install unknown app" or "unknown sources" in phone settings
• Do not grant permission to persistent pop-ups that request access to the device's hardware or data
• Check for scam signs with official sources such as the Scam Alert website or by calling the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688
• When asked to download an unknown app, check the developer information on the app listing as well as the number of downloads and user reviews to ensure that it is a reputable and legitimate application
• Tell the authorities, family and friends about such scams
• Report the phone numbers of scammers to WhatsApp to initiate in-app blocking and report any fraudulent transactions to the bank immediately

If people have already downloaded a malicious app or suspect that their phone might be infected with malware, the police advised them to take the following measures:

• Turn the phone to flight mode
• Run an antivirus scan on the phone
• Check their bank account, Singpass account and Central Provident Fund account for any unauthorised transactions and report such transactions to their bank, relevant authorities and the police

After completing these steps, people can use their phones normally if they believe the phones have not been infected with malware.

"As a further precaution, you may consider doing a factory reset of your phone and changing important passwords," the police added. CNA