PayNow's nickname option to be removed for added security

Move follows cases of scammers assuming names of legitimate companies to dupe victims

- Tan Ooi Boon

A security measure due next year will prevent PayNow customers from using nicknames when making online fund transfers with their phones.

But they can still stay anonymous. A new "masked account name" feature will be introduced that will hide certain letters so that their full names will not be revealed.

The move to remove the nickname option comes in the wake of recent cases where some crooks adopted the names of legitimate companies as their nicknames in order to dupe victims into transferring money via PayNow to their bank accounts.

The victims were told to scan doctored PayNow QR codes that the fraudsters created using nicknames and mobile phone numbers so that there was no need to key in a company's unique entity number (UEN) when making a payment.