BDO Unibank Inc. is warning the public of a new scam tricking the clients into giving out their SIM (subscriber identity module) card to fraudsters.
In an advisory, the Sy-led bank said that fraudsters are pretending to work on some SIM upgrade to acquire the said card.
“[The] Scammer will pretend to be a telco [telecommunications company] agent offering to upgrade the victim’s SIM card to improve their network connection and get their SIM card,” BDO said.
With the SIM card in the scammer’s possession, he or she will be given access to the number registered to the victim’s bank.
The fraudsters will then try to reset the customer’s online banking user ID and password.
Should they succeed, they could use the account to transfer money to anonymous digital wallets, according to BDO.
“Be smarter than a scammer. Don’t fall for the SIM swap scam,” BDO said.
Earlier, BDO made an announcement regarding a scam wherein fraudsters offer huge amount of money to customers in exchange of using their bank accounts to launder money.
The so-called “money mules,” once they agreed, then allow the scammers to use their personal bank accounts for cash deposits or online transfers. The bank said that sources of these transactions are illegal, citing fake charity or donations for coronavirus pandemic, among others.
Under Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the mules can face imprisonment of up to seven years and penalty of up to P3 million.
BDO stressed that clients and the public should ignore all suspicious calls, emails, private messages and website links that promote such schemes.
The clients should never share bank information to other people even though they appear legitimate, BDO said, noting this is the most effective protection against scams.