Scammers told woman she was involved in money-laundering probe, she sends S$1.2M over 14 transfers
An elderly woman in Singapore has lost more money than many people will see in their lifetimes to scammers.
The 67-year-old retiree transferred a total of S$1.2 million to scammers who posed as bank and police officers.
Source: Marjan Grabowski on Unsplash. Photo for illustration purposes only.
Woman receives call from ‘OCBC Bank’
In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao, the woman known only by the pseudonym of “Grace” said it all started on 15 May, when she was having a holiday in China.
The day before she was due to return to Singapore, she received a call from someone claiming to be from OCBC Bank.
They claimed that her account had been used to purchase S$8,000 of items, and asked for confirmation.
As she didn’t usually make transactions with OCBC, she didn’t have the bank’s app installed and couldn’t check her transaction records from abroad, she said.
She didn’t know why she trusted the person on the other side of the line so easily, she added.
‘Police officer’ tells woman her account was likely used for money laundering
When Grace denied making the transaction, she was transferred to someone who claimed to be a police officer.
The man, who spoke Singlish mixed with Chinese, instructed her to cooperate with the investigation by finding a quiet spot to chat with him.
Grace, who was staying with relatives at the time, retreated to the guest room and locked the door.
During her three-hour chat with the “police officer”, he told her that her bank account had been hacked into and mostly likely used for money laundering.
This made her worried as she had heard of the recent S$3 billion money-laundering case involving 27 foreign nationals.
Just then, a relative knocked on the door, calling her to eat. They also questioned whether she had fallen prey to a scam, but she ignored them.
Woman sends S$196K to scammers in first two transfers
After returning to Singapore, Grace kept in touch with the “police officer” via WhatsApp, reporting to him four times a day as instructed.
The latter then sent her a forged official document, saying she was under investigation and needed to transfer money to a designated account.
She made the first two transfers to the scammers on 23 May and 26 May, sending about S$99,000 and S$97,000.
When bank staff queried her over the large transactions, she told them she was buying a luxury watch, as the scammer instructed.
Woman transfers S$1.2M to scammers over 14 transfers
After that, the scammer asked Grace to open an account with an international bank and make 10 transfers to a company named “Datatronics”.
Every time the scammer asked her to transfer money, she would be asked to key in a “verification code” which was actually the five-figure amount she was sending to them.
She complied, sending about S$890,000 to them in total.
Lastly, she transferred over S$200,000 across two transactions to another bank account.
OCBC investigator uncovers scam
The game was finally up about a month later on 21 June, thanks to OCBC anti-scam investigator Poh Leong Hui.
Source: OCBC on Facebook
He became suspicious of the “Datatronics” account, which had been opened a month ago after the company was registered.
Although it was typical for the account to have large and frequent transactions, about S$800,000 was from the same account. That account was Grace’s account.
After finding more clues on 24 June, he called the Singapore Police Force’s Anti-Scam Centre (ASC).
Woman realises she sent S$1.2M to scammers
Senior Staff Sergeant Matthew Li, a senior investigation officer at the ASC, contacted Grace but she didn’t believe that she had been scammed.
In fact, she still believed that she had been speaking to a police officer all along.
He subsequently invited her to the Police Cantonment Complex, where she finally realised that she had been the victim of a scam.
She now hopes that by sharing her experience, others can be more vigilant against scams.
Also read: Woman loses S$330K to scam after OCBC staff fail to dissuade her from transferring money
Woman loses S$330K to scam after OCBC staff fail to dissuade her from transferring money
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Featured image adapted from Firmbee.com on Unsplash. Photo for illustration purposes only.
