75-Year-Old Woman Loses S$1M From CPF Account In Impersonation Scam
Falling victim to a scam is a very devastating thing indeed. Imagine seeing all of your hard-earned savings fly out the window because of a nefarious breach.
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Recently, a 75-year-old woman in Singapore lost a staggering S$1 million from her Central Provident Fund (CPF) account in a scam involving alleged Chinese officials.
Hoping to shine a light on this shocking crime, she has chosen to tell her story to the media.
Scammer told woman her name was being used for money laundering in China
According to The Straits Times (ST), the woman, known only as Madam Fong, got a call last December from someone claiming that her name was involved in a money laundering case in China.
They asked her to cooperate with investigations, and she agreed.
Madam Fong soon began receiving “official documents” that bore the logos of various Singapore government agencies, including the police and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The scammers also reportedly sent her a mobile phone to keep in touch with her.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports that the scammers slowly became friendly with Madam Fong over the next two months. They always made sure her family was never home during their conversations.
S$1 million transferred from CPF to bank account in scam
Referring to bank transfer records, Lianhe Zaobao noted that on 14 Jan, Madam Fong, a retired businesswoman, transferred S$1 million from her CPF account to her UOB bank account.
Then, on 24 Jan, she applied for Internet banking for the UOB account, as the scammers had requested.
That’s when she started losing her money. From 28 Jan to 3 Feb, scammers allegedly moved the S$1 million in large batches to unknown accounts.
In a media interview facilitated by the police, Madam Fong claims she does not remember transferring her CPF money to her UOB account, which requires a two-factor Singpass verification.
ST notes that at least 108 others have fallen prey to similar scams involving fake Chinese officials. In total, the victims have lost more than S$14.6 million since Jan.
Victim initially didn’t believe it was a scam
The transfer of such huge amounts of money caught the attention of the bank staff, who contacted Madam Fong’s husband to clarify the situation. Ironically, Mr Fong thought it was a scam call and denied making any transfers before hanging up twice.
UOB eventually flagged the case to the police’s anti-scam centre. Officers paid a visit to Madam Fong and spoke to her, but she reportedly did not believe them.
She only realised she had been deceived when she sent the scammer a message about the police and did not get a reply.
Unfortunately, Madam Fong has yet to recover any of the S$1 million she lost, and the case is still under investigation.
50 years of life savings gone
Lamenting the loss of the large sum of money they had saved over 50 years, Mr Fong described the “mental suffering” the couple had to go through after losing everything in a matter of days, quoted CNA.
But now that they’ve accepted what has happened, they hope to speak out and spread awareness about the scam to prevent others from facing the same fate.
The authorities also emphasise that Government agencies will never request payment via phone calls or social messaging platforms. Neither will they ask for personal banking information like Internet banking passwords.
The public is reminded not to share their Singpass, bank account login details, as well as one-time passwords (OTPs) with anyone, even family.
Hope victim will be able to recover some of the money lost
After working so hard for so many decades, Madam Fong should be enjoying the fruits of her labour in retirement.
However, no thanks to the scammers’ devious ways, she lost an amount some people may never even get to see in a lifetime.
We hope that she will somehow manage to get all her hard-earned money back.
We also hope that the authorities will manage to catch the scammers. In the meantime, we urge the public to be vigilant in order to protect themselves and their money.
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Featured image adapted from Elizabeth Hammond on Flickr.
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