Recently, many scam cases have been circulating online and the Deputy Minister of Finance II, Yamani Hafez Musa, has cautioned users to NOT download any third-party applications under the Android Package Kit (APK).
According to NST, these statements are in response to Steven Choong, who brought up the issue of consumers getting random OTP messages without permission.
One-time passwords (OTP) is commonly used for one-time transactions and while it is designed to be safe, scammers have now developed an app that would allow them to read your OTP.
He has also mentioned that:
“These scammers would often disguise themselves as bank authorities, trying to extort any personal information from consumers.”
“When using any food delivery or house cleaning apps/websites, if the requirement to pay is to download a third party app through their APK file, please do not download it.”
He has also advised users to not panic if they encounter such fraud and always beware of suspicious numbers calling.
If you are receiving random OTP password requests out of the blue, it’s best to double check the apps that you currently have or go through your browser history to see if you’ve accidentally downloaded anything without permission.
Also read: Scammer Pretends To Be Jho Low & Emails M’sian Stand-Up Comedian Asking For a Collaboration