{"id":38439,"date":"2025-04-21T13:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T13:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/38439\/"},"modified":"2025-04-21T13:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T13:40:12","slug":"over-2-4-million-losses-since-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/38439\/","title":{"rendered":"Over $2.4 million losses since February"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Android users are being warned to stay vigilant, as a surge in malware scams has resulted in at least 128 reported cases and over $2.4 million in losses since February 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The police said in an advisory that\u00a0scammers have been targeting victims through Facebook and TikTok ads, enticing them with offers for goods or services.<\/p>\n<p>After victims express interest, they are contacted via WhatsApp and asked to make a small upfront payment, often through a suspicious URL.<\/p>\n<p>When payment fails, victims are then instructed to download a malicious Android app (APK file) sent through WhatsApp to &#8216;resolve the issue&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"651\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1_8.png\" width=\"293\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Once installed, the app secretly grants scammers remote access to the victim\u2019s device, allowing them to steal banking credentials and SMS OTPs (one-time passwords).<\/p>\n<p>This enables scammers to make unauthorised transactions either through the victim&#8217;s phone or from their own devices.<\/p>\n<p>To bypass built-in protections, scammers often instruct victims to disable Google Play Protect and, in some cases, to download VPN apps to assist in gaining deeper access to the device.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What to do if you suspect your phone has been infected<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you think you may have downloaded malware:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Switch your phone to flight mode immediately and turn off Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Run an anti-virus scan on your phone.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Check your bank, Singpass, and CPF accounts using another device for unauthorised transactions.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Report suspicious activity to your bank, relevant authorities, and the police.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Do not factory reset your phone until police have assessed it, as this may affect investigations.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How to protect yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The police urge the public to take the following steps:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong>A \u2013 ADD<\/strong>: Download ScamShield and a trusted anti-virus app. Enable Google Play Protect. Disable \u201cInstall Unknown Apps\u201d in settings.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>C \u2013 CHECK<\/strong>: Use ScamShield to verify messages and links. Be cautious if asked to disable security features or install unknown apps.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>T \u2013 TELL<\/strong>: Inform friends, family, and authorities. Report scam accounts and suspicious activity immediately.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>More information and resources are available at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scamshield.gov.sg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.scamshield.gov.sg<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Android users are being warned to stay vigilant, as a surge in malware scams has resulted in at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3159],"tags":[21955,2061,547,1463,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-38439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-advisory","9":"tag-android","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-scam","12":"tag-technology","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114376240259286808","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}