With the number of scams proliferating in Singapore nowadays, it pays to be vigilant and help out vulnerable members of the public who might be targeted.
One elderly man in Singapore fell for precisely such a love scam, causing him to try to transfer S$3,000.
Source: Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Thankfully, the staff at POSB bank refused to do the transfer for him. In the process, they saved him from becoming a victim.
The incident was highlighted in a Facebook post on Sunday (8 Oct) by DBS Bank, the parent company of POSB.
They said it occurred at the POSB branch in CompassOne mall in Sengkang.
Source: Google Maps
Around lunchtime, a man in his 70s, gripping a walking stick, entered and requested assistance to transfer S$3,000 to another account.
Ms Rohani Hassan, a bank officer with POSB, asked the elderly man some routine questions.
She said this was a precaution when processing over-the-counter transfers, in view of prevailing scams.
Scribbling on a piece of paper as he was hard of hearing, she asked the man who the payee was.
He replied that a courier company would supposedly “release” a personal parcel meant for him when they received the money.
She said this answer caused “alarm bells” to blare in Rohani’s head. Thus, she refused to make the transfer, writing a note to the man saying,
I can’t make the transfer for you, because I believe that you’re about to be scammed.
However, the man became agitated, gesturing in anger and yelling in frustration,
It’s my money, why can’t I make the transfer?!
Unsurprisingly, this caused the lunchtime noise to suddenly quieten down as everyone in the outlet stared at what was happening.
Unable to get through to the elderly man, Rohani requested assistance from Siew Lay, the branch’s Deputy Service Manager.
Siew Lay and Rohani. Source: DBS on Facebook
She rushed over and read the questions written by Rohani, then asked for the payee’s account number to run additional checks.
She found out that the account was a personal account, not a business one like the man said it was.
It also had been flagged for suspicious transactions.
However, when the elderly man was informed of this, he grew more incensed.
He then declared that he wanted to close his account and make the transfer from a different bank.
Siew Lay ended up calling the police, who arrived and convinced the elderly man to leave with them.
She did this because the bank has “a close relationship” with the police when working against scams.
It was subsequently revealed that the man had been targeted by a love scam.
According to previous experience, victims of love scams tend to be more emotionally charged, which is why the man was so bent on doing the transfer, she said.
For their roles in stopping the scam, Rohani and Siew Lay received letters of appreciation from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in September.
Source: DBS on Facebook
Siew Lay, who has been with POSB for more than 35 years, said branch staff are the “last line of defence” against scams.
As scams get more and more elaborate, she and her colleagues do their best to keep up-to-date with how the latest scams are carried out so she can protect customers, she added.
This is because she doesn’t want to see any more customers being victimised, saying “there’s no worse feeling” than that.
Thus, although it’s not easy to deal with an upset customer, she’d rather face their anger than risk them getting scammed.
Also read: Elderly Man Attempts To Send S$150K To ‘Dutch Girlfriend’, Stopped By Vigilant UOB Staff
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Featured image from Google Maps.
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