8 arrested for their involvement in malware used to compromise phones, access bank accounts

Four men and four women, aged between 19 and 35, were arrested for their suspected involvement in the recent spate of banking-related malware incidents, said the police.

Since March, the police have received numerous reports informing that malware was used to compromise mobile devices, resulting in unauthorised transactions made from their banking accounts even though the victims did not divulge their one-time passwords (OTP) to anyone.

The identities of four men and four women who were believed to be involved in some of the reported incidents were identified and arrested during an island-wide operation conducted on Tuesday (June 13) and Wednesday.

Cash amounting to $3,800, cashier’s order amounting to $9,912.56 and two handphones were seized as case exhibits.

Two of the men, Raphael Cher, 24, and Putra Alfian Ahmad Said, 22, were charged on Thursday with one count each of acquiring benefits from criminal conduct, which carries an imprisonment of up to 10 years, a fine of up to $500,000, or both.

Police investigations are ongoing against the other six persons for the alleged offences of acquiring benefits from criminal conduct and unauthorised disclosure of access code.

You are reminded not to download any suspicious Android Package Kit (APK) from unknown sources as they may contain malware.