2 victims avoid losing $3m to scammers, saved by Anti-Scam Centre and banks

SINGAPORE - Two men were targeted in separate scam attempts in March that would have seen them lose more than $3 million, had it not been for the intervention of their banks and the police's Anti-Scam Centre (ASC).

Both cases involved scammers impersonating government officials, said the police in a media statement on April 16.

In one case, a 52-year-old was informed by a scammer posing as a senior police inspector that he was under investigation, and that he had to transfer a sum of $200,000 every day over a period of two weeks to various bank accounts for the purpose of "inspection and verification".

DBS Bank's anti-mule team detected that something was amiss when the victim deposited a cheque of $500,000 to an account provided by the scammer.

The bank immediately put a hold on the funds and surfaced the case to ASC, which informed the victim he had fallen prey to a scam. The cheque was stopped by DBS, and the intervention prevented further losses totalling $2.9 million.

In the second case, a 76-year-old was contacted by a scammer who posed as a bank staff member and informed him that his identity was being misused.

The victim was then referred to another scammer posing as a "police officer from the Singapore Police Force" who claimed that he was under investigation for money laundering.

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The elderly man was given a choice for a normal investigation of up to 60 days or a "Priority Financial Inspection" lasting a week, which required the victim to transfer money to a given account.

Hoping for a shorter investigation duration, the victim complied and transferred more than $127,500 to three different bank accounts provided by the scammer.

When the victim ran out of cash, he wanted to make a withdrawal from his Central Provident Fund account to pay the scammer. Upon detecting the suspicious transactions, UOB escalated the case to ASC, whose officers engaged the victim and convinced him that he had fallen prey to a scam, said the police. The intervention prevented losses amounting to $98,000 which the victim had attempted to transfer from his CPF account.

The police advised the public that they can add security features such as the ScamShield app and two-factor authentication for personal accounts as a precaution against scams.

They can also set up transaction limits for internet banking to limit the amount of funds that could be lost through scams.

People should also check for scam signs with official sources like the ScamShield WhatsApp bot and anti-scam helpline, and avoid revealing sensitive personal information on a website or to callers over the phone.

Members of the public are encouraged to inform the authorities and others about scams, and report any fraudulent transactions to the bank immediately.

For more information on scams, people can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam hotline on 1800-722-6688.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.