Online frauds in Singapore
Recently, SG Budget Babe wrote a very interesting article on online frauds in Singapore and I thought it would be useful to share a quick post on the same topic.
But before that, it is important to note that like many fraud victims, I share the same perspective and argument if I am in their shoes. But for argument sake, this article shall attempt to strike a balanced viewpoint from the perspective of the service provider (the bank) and the consumer. Hopefully readers can benefit from this sharing and avoid the undesirable fate of being a fraud victim.
Understanding the law
In Singapore, the law that governs electronic transactions is the Electronic Transaction Act (ETA). This law covers two important components of online transactions – Electronic Signature and Secured Electronic Signature. For an electronic signature to be legally recognized, it needs to be able to authenticate the person signing the document and ensure integrity of the document signed. However, if the service provider implemented secured electronic signature, the law automatically presume that these requirements are fulfilled.
The 2-FA authentication used by many local banks is deemed as a form of secured electronic signature and the system works based on “what you know (PIN or password)” and “what you have (two factor authentication token)”.
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