Multi-currency mobile wallet, YouTrip, has taken a stand against financial fraud by assisting the Singapore Police Force in uncovering a case of syndicated credit card fraud. 

Over 85 fraudulent credit card transactions were flagged by YouTrip's Fraud Monitoring System. The Singapore Police Force has arrested and charged 4 individuals with syndicated credit card fraud with another 15 individuals currently under investigation for related offences.

Investigating & tracing transaction patterns using Data Analytics

Throughout late December and January, YouTrip's Fraud Monitoring System, which traces and detects early signals of suspicious transactions, flagged two key signals:

• Signal 1: High top-up amount followed by immediate purchases or cash withdrawals to deplete the account balance
• Signal 2: High frequency of failed top-ups with incorrect credit/debit card credentials

The combination of these two key signals and various data analytics techniques led to the identification of a specific group of users who exhibited both of such behaviours. 

A special task force made up of Fraud Monitoring specialists and Engineers was immediately set up to further uncover more transactions and usage signals that have a high correlation to potentially fraudulent activities. These include concentration on common merchant names (e.g. overseas ATM locations), common transaction locations, chargebacks and reports from members of the general public. 

YouTrip handed over conclusive findings to the police to expedite investigations. This information included 18 individuals suspected of fraudulently obtaining information on more than 85 bank credit or debit cards to top up YouTrip accounts. These accounts were immediately suspended.

Enhancing our security measures

While investigations were underway, YouTrip rolled out a security update last week that requires mandatory OTP verification via SMS (to be sent by your credit card issuing bank), whenever a new credit or debit card is added for the first time on the YouTrip app. 

This helps to further eliminate cases of fraudulent use such as to perform top-ups on YouTrip accounts using stolen credit or debit cards, in addition to the existing fraud monitoring systems and customer due diligence processes.

Security Update: mandatory OTP verification via SMS when adding bank credit/debit card on YouTrip App

"Fraud prevention and security will continue to be YouTrip's core mission to our users. We will continue to work closely with the authorities and community to ensure a secure and seamless payment experience for all YouTrip users," said Mr Kelvin Lam, Country Manager (Singapore), You Technologies Group.

The case is currently under litigation and YouTrip is working closely with the authorities in the ongoing investigations. YouTrip will be working with the relevant institutions to ensure a proper arrangement for affected individuals in this case. 

YouTrip users can rest assured to use YouTrip as per normal, as the suspicious activities have been contained to the current identified suspects. Users can reach out to YouTrip's  customer support team at customer@you.co, if they detect any suspicious activities in their accounts.