The Nepal Police’s Cyber Bureau has issued a public advisory warning residents of a spike in phishing scams designed to steal digital assets and funds from bank accounts.
According to a report by the Kathmandu Post, the Cyber Bureau noted that bad actors are exploiting a vulnerability in SMS services employed by financial institutions and digital asset service providers. The attackers exploit the vulnerabilities to send fake alerts, impersonate official channels, and mislead victims.
Service providers in Nepal‘s financial ecosystem typically rely on bulk SMS services to communicate with customers for several reasons. One is because the SMS services do not require an internet connection and allow service providers to reach large user demographics easily.
However, bad actors can latch onto the vulnerabilities of SMS services and send fraudulent messages to potential victims. The messages, mimicking official alerts from known service providers, are intended to cause apprehension while urging victims to take a time-sensitive action.
“Your connectIPS linked accounts have been suspended due to security reasons. Please complete the self-verify process… to regain access,” read one fake SMS notification.
According to the public advisory warning, users will be urged to click a link that redirects them to a cloned website of a reputable financial institution or digital wallet service provider. Upon inserting their login details and credentials on the decoy website, the bad actors can access the victim’s bank account and digital wallets, siphoning funds within minutes.
Outside of SMS scams, the Cyber Bureau warns users against other ingenious methods that bad actors employ. The unit notes that attackers hide malware in trading applications and loan calculators, urging residents to exercise caution and download software from authorized platforms.
The Cyber Bureau, in its public advisory, warns that users should contact their banks and digital wallet service providers rather than clicking suspicious SMS links.
Bad actors wreak havoc in Web3
The Web3 space has been inundated by a streak of hacks and security breaches, with the latest affecting U.S.-based digital asset exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN). Hours after its inclusion in the S&P 500 (NASDAQ: SPX), the exchange suffered a cyberattack that compromised a large number of private user credentials. However, the exchange said the attack affected only 1% of its users.
Early in the year, Bybit suffered $1.5 billion in losses from a hack by a syndicate with ties to the North Korean government.
Thailand’s PM pledges to resume digital money handout initiative after the economy rebounds
Elsewhere, after rolling out the first two phases of its digital money handout to citizens, Thailand has paused the initiative, citing economic uncertainties.
However, Thailand’s Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has disclosed that his administration will redeem its promises to the people and resume the digital money handout. The prime minister confirmed the delay to the initiative, blaming it on unforeseen macroeconomic issues.
In 2024, the Thai government unveiled a plan to hand out $14 billion in digital money to citizens via digital wallets. Adopting a phased approach to the initiative, authorities have disbursed funds to the elderly and the physically disabled.
Phases three and four, involving Gen Zs and millennials, have been put on hold, triggering criticism among affected individuals.
Thaksin disclosed that the government has reallocated the funds originally earmarked for the digital wallet to critical sectors of the economy. He added that the changes are linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and falling economic indices across the board.
The digital wallet initiative is not the only project that Thailand is putting on hold. From the wording of Thaksin’s speech, authorities are signaling that they will also be pausing the 20-baht ($0.61) flat fare primed initially for launch in Q4 of 2025.
“Any policy promised to the people must be delivered, whether it’s the 20-baht flat fare for the Skytrain or the digital wallet,” said Thaksin. “It’s like owing someone 100 baht but only having 10 baht today; you still have to gradually pay it back in full.”
Thaksin did not reveal new dates for the commencement of the initiatives, opting to continue the services if the economy improves. Citizens have been closely monitoring the economy to pick up steam in the latter half of the year, but experts say a marked improvement may show on the charts as early as next year.
For now, Thailand is grappling with a high public debt-to-GDP ratio while the average household debt is also increasing.
Thailand is still embracing digitization despite economic blips
The Southeast Asian country is embracing digitization to improve its economic metrics amid a wave of uncertainties. Thailand has revealed a plan to issue digital bonds in the third quarter of the year while supporting digital payments for tourists.
To improve the pace of digitization, authorities have issued a green light for a Thai-backed stablecoin to bolster available stablecoin options in the country. Furthermore, the country is eyeing a wave of regional partnerships to explore public use cases of emerging technologies.
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