SINGAPORE: Scammers are now making use of doctored soft copies of NRICs to set up accounts with payment service providers to use for illegal activities.
The fraudsters would get hold of a soft copy of an NRIC and replace its photograph with that of another person, said the police as they issued a warning about the new modus operandi on Wednesday (Nov 12).
When a payment service provider verifies the modified document submitted, the scammers would get an accomplice to pose as the “person” whose NRIC was submitted, thus allowing for an account to be set up and used for illicit activities.
Some of the modified NRICs belonged to scam victims who had given soft copies to scammers previously, the police noted, adding that the Monetary Authority of Singapore has alerted all financial institutions to this tactic.
Affected payment service providers, which the police did not name, have also tightened their measures.
“Financial institutions have also been reminded to review and ensure that their customer onboarding processes are sufficiently robust to prevent scammers from exploiting their services,” the police statement said.
Those found guilty of forging a document or electronic record with the intention to cheat can be jailed up to 10 years and fined, it added.
Some precautionary measures that businesses can adopt, as per the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore’s recommendations, include using Singpass for verification rather than digital copies of identity cards, as well as monitoring and reporting any suspicious transactions over a short period.
The police also stressed that individuals should never share images of any personal identification documents with others without verifying the legitimacy of the requester and the purpose behind it. - The Straits Times/ANN
