Wednesday, March 14, 2012

SingTel / SingNet Phishing Scam

SingNet users have been receiving emails from "SingNet", requesting for the users' password within five working days. Failing to comply with it will cause their accounts to be terminated.

SingTel has issued notices to warn its customers about it and not to divulge their personal information and passwords to the sender. SingNet customers can report any case of internet abuse at http://www.singnet.com.sg/help/security/othersIAReport.asp.

There are, in fact, a few ways to prevent yourself from being scammed.


  1. By logical thinking
    There is no need for companies to get your password, as they can easily amend any detail inside your account since they have direct access to the database. It is also not cost-efficient for big companies to engage staffs to request for your password personally. Reliable websites usually encrypt your password before storing it into their databases, and therefore, their webmasters or IT support teams will not be able to retrieve your password; however, they can easily reset your password if necessary.

  2. Checking the sender
    It is easy for anyone to disguise the real mail server's address. If you feel weird about the email, do look at the full email headers for all the details.

  3. Mouse over the hyperlink (do not click it!)
    When your mouse points over the hyperlink, the status bar in your web browser will display the actual URL it is pointing to. The hyperlink may show http://www.singtel.com/login but the actual link may be pointing to http://singtel.scamyouhahahaha.com/login; this is just normal HTML coding. In this case, do note that scamyouhahahaha.com is the actual website and singtel is just a sub directory of scamyouhahahaha.com. The website that you are directed to is likely to appear similar to the original website.


Phishing is an old tactic for scammer to steal your login particulars. It is usually targeting websites such as Paypal, which has less security than your internet banking. If you are using any free online email, you can go through your spam or bulk mail folder and there should be quite a number of such phishing emails.

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