A 70-year-old man\u2019s phone seemingly turned against him after he allegedly downloaded a malicious app, with the device suddenly locking itself and a creepy message showing on the screen: \u201cI won\u2019t let you contact DBS.\u201d<\/p>\n
His daughter Nicole Laurens, 33, told Lianhe Zaobao that her father\u2019s Samsung Galaxy S26<\/a> was suspected to have been remotely controlled<\/a> after he downloaded a suspicious app.<\/p>\n The incident happened on Sept 22, after the elderly man received a WhatsApp message purportedly from DBS Bank\u2019s fraud department.<\/p>\n The message claimed there had been a suspicious $50,000 transaction involving his account and asked him to call a number.<\/p>\n Worried, the man called the number without first checking his transaction history, and the other person on the call proceeded to ask for his bank account login details.<\/p>\n The elderly man received a WhatsApp message purporting to be from DBS Bank\u2019s fraud department.<\/p>\n PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n Laurens, however, realised something was wrong and immediately contacted DBS.<\/p>\n While she was speaking to the bank, her father\u2019s phone suddenly locked itself. Its camera indicator also lit up, while an English message appeared on the screen:<\/p>\n I won\u2019t let you contact DBS and fraud team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Laurens said her father was not using the phone at the time, but it suddenly went black, and he was unable to operate it.<\/p>\n DBS later confirmed that no money had been transferred from her father\u2019s account.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t reveal any personal information, so fortunately they weren\u2019t able to take money from his bank account,\u201d Laurens said.<\/p>\n Concerned that the suspected scammers might still be able to control the device, Laurens immediately forced the phone to shut down and placed it in another room.<\/p>\n Laurens later restarted it in safe mode and deleted the suspicious app. She intends to send the phone for repair to back up her father\u2019s photos before resetting the device.<\/p>\n Her father has also frozen his bank account<\/a>, replaced his bank cards, and lodged a police report.<\/p>\n Laurens later discovered that her father had downloaded an app<\/a> called \u201cWater Fitness\u201d several days earlier.<\/p>\n Her mother had seen an advertisement for aquatic fitness classes on Facebook and signed her husband up, leaving his phone number.<\/p>\n Someone claiming to work for \u201cWater Fitness\u201d subsequently called her father, who did not suspect anything was amiss as the caller sounded professional.<\/p>\n The caller first instructed the father to change some privacy settings before directing him to download the app from the Google Play Store.<\/p>\n The man adjusted his phone\u2019s privacy settings before downloading the app from the Google Play Store.<\/p>\n PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n After that, his phone began displaying unusual behaviour \u2014 it would become abnormally hot, and apps would open and close on their own.<\/p>\n Laurens said she is unable to determine whether the fake DBS Bank call and the \u201cWater Fitness\u201d app are connected.<\/p>\n Lianhe Zaobao visited a Samsung phone shop and two repair shops to ask what people should do if they suspect their phones have been remotely controlled.<\/p>\n The staff recommended taking the following steps:<\/p>\n Nicole said she decided to share her parents\u2019 experience to remind others not to blindly trust online advertisements, particularly content generated using artificial intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n She also encouraged seniors to use tools such as ScamShield<\/a> to help identify scams and to check reviews before using unfamiliar websites or services.<\/p>\n Have something to say? Join in!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Explore more on these topics<\/p>\n<\/div>\n See something interesting? Contribute<\/a> your story to us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Phone showed strange behaviour after app was downloaded<\/h2>\n
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What to do if your phone may have been remotely controlled<\/h2>\n
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