Victims of OCBC phishing scam to be fully reimbursed by the bank

OCBC will be providing full reimbursements to the victims that fell prey to a recent SMS phishing scam. The bank has announced that arrangements for these “goodwill payouts” will be made in the following days to come. The group chief executive officer of OCBC, Ms Helen Wong, said that she seeks the patience and understanding of customers as the bank needs time to ensure complete accuracy of reimbursements for everyone affected.

“This process is necessary so that every case is fairly and properly treated.”

The bank has revealed that it has already started the process of reimbursement, with over 30 customers already receiving these payouts.

The phishing scam, which targeted over 469 customers, has raked up losses totalling up to S$8.5 million. With the rising number of online scams, Mr Shahnawaz Backer, senior solutions architect at American IT consultancy firm F5, believes that goodwill reimbursements are not the long-term solution to this problem. More emphasis needs to be put towards prevention, which Mr Backer believes must be the main priority of the bank.

 

Read more here: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/ocbc-fully-reimburse-all-victims-money-lost-sms-phishing-scam-arrangements-be-made-next-week-1794281