A 50-year-old woman’s WhatsApp account was allegedly hacked after she opened a compressed file sent by a familiar supplier, with more than 10 of her contacts subsequently receiving messages asking to borrow $1,000 each from them.The woman, surnamed Chen, works as an accounts assistant and received a WhatsApp message from a supplier at about 11am on Oct 27, Shin Min Daily News reported. As the they had worked together and regularly exchanged accounting documents, Chen did not suspect anything amiss and opened the file on her company computer, but she could not view any contents after opening it.She later noticed unfamiliar text and programmes appearing on her computer screen, with processes seemingly running on their own.Chen did not realise then that her computer might have been compromised, but she realised something was wrong when her boss asked whether she had borrowed money from anyone that evening. Shin Min Daily reported that her WhatsApp account had apparently been accessed by scammers, who sent messages to her contacts asking each of them to lend $1,000.About 10 people, including her colleagues, relatives and friends, received the messages.Her younger sister, who was in Malaysia, also received a message and found it strange that Chen was asking to borrow Singapore dollars.Although Chen could still access WhatsApp on her phone, messages she sent were not reaching their recipients.With her son’s help, she logged out of the WhatsApp account on her company computer and regained contact with her friends and relatives through her phone.She made a police report that night and backed up her computer’s data before reformatting it the following day.The police confirmed with Shin Min Daily that a report had been lodged.Colleague transferred $1,000 without checkingOne colleague who received the message believed it was genuine and transferred $1,000 to Chen.Fortunately, he sent the money to Chen’s PayNow mobile number, so no financial loss was incurred.Chen said the colleague had transferred the money before the scammers could even send him a QR code.She jokingly remarked that he was “very loyal” for transferring the money without checking with her first, adding that she was relieved nobody had lost money.[[nid:749790]]asyiqin.nadzri@asiaone.com
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