OCBC's head of information security Andrew Wong told CNETAsia that the Web site, which was hosted in China, was discovered on Tuesday by the bank’s customers and members of the public. They reported receiving an e-mail which appeared to be from OCBC with an embedded hyperlink, requesting verification of their Internet banking particulars.
“This hyperlink, which was hosted in China, was shut down today,” said Wong.
Upon notification, the bank immediately reported the scam to the police and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Wong emphasized that it is not the bank’s practice to conduct security verifications through e-mails or telephone calls. The bank further warned customers against accessing their Internet banking accounts through links that are embedded in e-mails.
The latest incident is one of several phishing scams targeting banks in Asia in recent years. In December 2003, Malaysia’s Maybank fell prey to a similar scam. In June this year, a malicious pop-up program attempted to steal Internet banking particulars from a number of banks across the world, including Hong Kong's Dah Sing Bank and Citibank’s sites in Australia and Singapore.
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