Beware of fraudulent emails impersonating MAS, authority warns

SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) warned on Saturday (Oct 6) against responding to fraudulent emails purportedly sent from @mas.gov.sg accounts, which request recipients to click on links or open attachments that contain malware.

Members of the public should not respond to these emails, which have subject titles like “Fund Transmittal” and “Singapore Compliance Information”. They should also not open the attachments or divulge any personal information including login IDs and passwords, MAS said in a media release.

The authority also said that some of these emails claim it has received funds from foreign central banks remitted to the recipients, who are then asked to pay a transaction fee and provide details of their bank accounts to a specified email address.

Another group of emails, which claim that MAS is updating information on the training status of compliance officers for programmes related to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, was also flagged.

Recipients of these emails are asked to provide the information by filling out documents attached.

“Under no circumstances will MAS ask members of the public to provide their personal or bank account information,” the authority said. “If members of the public receive any unsolicited or suspicious emails purportedly from MAS requesting personal or bank account information, they should report this to MAS at [email protected].”

“Financial institutions receiving emails purportedly from MAS are advised to be alert to any anomaly in the details of the sender or nature of request, and contact the relevant MAS review officer if in doubt,” it added.

Source: CNA