*"If you insist on keeping your (unauthorised) apps (not from official app stores) at all costs, consider getting another phone and putting them there, and keeping your bank apps on another phone that is safe from foreign intrusion.*
Always remember that you have to do your part to fend off scammers if you value the convenience of performing banking transactions on your phone.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/following-banks-security-tips-can-shield-you-from-scams
2023-09-09
Tan Ooi Boon
Invest Editor
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE – Which of the following do you value more – the freedom to explore and download anything from the wild, wild online world or the savings in your bank account?
The answer should be obvious, but in case you still choose to practise unsafe online habits, OCBC Bank, for one, will make you reconsider reckless decisions that can leave you poorer when scammers empty your bank account.
In a controversial yet clever move, the bank recently added a feature to its banking app that bars you from accessing your bank account if it detects that you have “unauthorised” apps on your smartphone.
The feature effectively targets apps that are not downloaded from official app stores but come from the content providers’ own platforms, often for leisure, gaming or e-commerce.
OCBC says such apps carry risks because they can be embedded with lethal hacking tools, and scammers know no one will check them.
When you download such an app, you are effectively inviting the crooks to take over your phone and clear out your bank accounts.
It is still unclear how such hacking tools infiltrate a phone’s system, but all of them are designed to capture your access code so that scammers can enter your online banking by impersonating you.
You may think you will get message alerts whenever funds are being withdrawn from your accounts, but the crooks know that too.
That is why they prefer to work the late-night shift, so that they have lots of time to slowly steal every penny while you are blissfully asleep.
After the deed is done, they will delete all the bank’s withdrawal alerts by accessing your messaging system remotely. Many victims are unaware that they have been scammed until they check their bank accounts.
Action not taken lightly
That OCBC has resorted to taking the drastic step of restricting its customers’ use of unofficial apps can lead to only one conclusion – scammers will continue to win unless all of us do our part to make it much harder for them to steal our money.
“The security feature was implemented to protect our customers from malware or suspected malicious apps,” the bank says. Indeed, the app has prevented over 30 customers from losing the $2 million in their OCBC accounts even after their phones were hijacked.
Cyber security is a two-way street.
There is only so much the police and banks can do if you choose to invite scammers through the back door to impersonate you and access your bank accounts. Once this happens, you are unlikely to get your money back, even if the culprits are subsequently arrested.
The security steps recommended by OCBC are not unreasonable – they apply only to Android smartphones because these gadgets allow the downloading of apps from various sources.
If OCBC’s app detects unofficial apps on your phone, it will prompt you to either delete them or switch off their accessibility functions.
It is safer to just delete the apps and download them from the official stores, if available.
This is because there is no way of knowing whether hackers have planted a back-up mechanism to automatically switch on the accessibility function again to track user’s keystrokes or to record account activity.
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Moreover, as there are so many different phone models on the market, some users will probably not know how to switch off the accessibility function to these apps.
As new ways of hacking emerge unrelentingly, it is too risky to muck around and insist on having things done your way when the security feature is meant to keep your money safe.
If you insist on keeping your apps at all costs, consider getting another phone and putting them there, and keeping your bank apps on another phone that is safe from foreign intrusion.
Always remember that you have to do your part to fend off scammers if you value the convenience of performing banking transactions on your phone.
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