SINGAPORE – A 75-year-old woman was scammed of investments worth more than $213,000 and would have lost another $500,000, if not for a bank officer stepping in after he noticed her unusual banking behaviour.
On Aug 28, the police said its Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) worked with Standard Chartered bank to foil the government official impersonation scam in August, with the quick detection and vigilance of the bank officer playing a key role in securing and recovering funds from the scam arrangement.
Sometime in July, the woman received a call from a scammer who claimed to be from Standard Chartered bank. She was informed that unauthorised transactions had been made on her Standard Chartered credit card. She was then referred to an “officer” purportedly from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for her to seek assistance. After speaking to the “officer” over the phone, the victim was told that her credit card had been compromised and the magnetic strip on her card could be fixed only if payment was made.
The “officer” asked her to sell her investment funds and to transfer more than $213,000 to various accounts held with other banks between July 26 and 29. The victim complied, and was then told by the “officer” to sell her investments worth $500,000 so that the details on the magnetic strip could be changed.
This attempted transaction was detected by a Standard Chartered relationship manager, who noticed the victim’s unusual banking behaviour and outgoing transfers to various bank accounts.
Suspecting she might be a scam victim, he promptly escalated the case to the bank’s anti-fraud team, which placed account restrictions and reached out to ASC for intervention.
Working with the Standard Chartered team, ASC alerted the victim, who then realised that she had fallen prey to a government official impersonation scam.
The transaction was stopped in time, preventing the loss of $500,000. The $213,000 was not recovered.
For more information on scams, the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline on 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information relating to scams can call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/i-witness.
Those requiring urgent police assistance can dial 999.
In the first six months of 2024, scam victims in Singapore lost a record high of over $385.6 million, with the number of cases increasing by 16.3 per cent over the same period in 2023.
In 86 per cent of the cases, the scammers did not gain control of the victims’ accounts but had manipulated them into transferring money to the criminals.
Although those aged 65 and above made up only 7.2 per cent of scam victims, the police are particularly concerned for this group, as they could lose their life savings and are unlikely to recover financially from it.
