Singaporean man’s WhatsApp hacked; scammers loot thousands from contacts

SINGAPORE: A 66-year-old man in Singapore has fallen victim to scammers who hacked his WhatsApp account and used it to target people in his contact list, resulting in losses of more than S$3,000.

According to Shin Min Daily News, four individuals had their accounts taken over in the scam.

The victim, identified as Lu Changming, said he first received a WhatsApp message in mid-April, purportedly from a friend of 20 years, asking to borrow S$1,000. Finding the request unusual, Lu contacted his friend directly and discovered that the account had been hacked and was being used to solicit money from others.

About a week later, Lu received another message from the same friend at around 6am, requesting a one-time password (OTP) he had received. Believing the OTP was needed to help his friend recover the account, Lu shared the code. He later realised that his own WhatsApp account had been compromised.

Lu reported the incident to the police. Scammers then used his account to send similar messages to his contacts, asking for loans and requesting OTPs to gain access to additional accounts.

According to Lu, the scammers initially targeted friends and relatives who frequently interacted with him, such as those who regularly exchanged “good morning” messages, as they were more likely to trust the requests.

Around 30 to 40 people were contacted during the scam. Of these, four WhatsApp users including Lu’s sister had their accounts compromised.

After gaining access to his sister’s account, scammers reportedly attempted to solicit money from her contacts using QR codes. Three victims fell for the impersonation scam and transferred S$1,000 each.

Lu said some victims blamed both him and his sister for the losses, with a few even mistaking him for the scammer and asking him to repay the money.

Despite filing a police report, Lu was unable to recover his WhatsApp account and eventually had to change his phone number.

He added that scammers are still impersonating him and contacting people from his network.

“I have a friend whom I haven’t contacted in a long time who recently reached out, saying he received a message from me asking to borrow money. I had to clarify quickly,” Lu said.