Bank association ‘aware of feedback’ after PayNow name masking spells out inappropriate words

A Reddit thread highlighting the issue drew hundreds of comments, while users also took to Facebook to complain about the change.

“My entire family’s surname just became NSFW (not safe for work),” wrote Facebook user Jeremy See, whose name was displayed as “JERXXX SEX WEX LOXX”. Another user, Ron Foo, wrote: “My name becomes so erotic … FOX SEX POX.”

Responding to CNA’s queries on why the letter “X” was used instead of an asterisk, dash or another symbol, ABS said not all PayNow-related systems across its 29 participating institutions currently support special characters, so a letter was used instead.

“The letter ‘X’ was chosen to mask certain letters as it is widely recognised as a symbol for something concealed or missing, and visually resembles a cross-out mark,” ABS director Ong-Ang Ai Boon added.

“ABS decided on this approach to swiftly disable a tool being exploited by scammers while maintaining a smooth PayNow experience.

“We seek customers’ understanding and will continue to review feedback for future improvements.”