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SINGAPORE: The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on Wednesday (Jun 10) said it was aware of feedback after the recent masking of PayNow users’ names resulted in inappropriate words being displayed.<\/p>\n
The nickname feature for PayNow users was discontinued last Saturday, with users’ real names now displayed and certain letters masked with “X”.<\/p>\n
However, this has led to some PayNow users’ names being displayed with letter combinations that inadvertently spell words such as “SEX”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Reddit thread highlighting the issue drew hundreds of comments, while users also took to Facebook to complain about the change.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe letter \u2018X\u2019 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,\u201d ABS director Ong-Ang Ai Boon added.<\/p>\n
\u201cABS decided on this approach to swiftly disable a tool being exploited by scammers while maintaining a smooth PayNow experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe seek customers\u2019 understanding and will continue to review feedback for future improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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