Suspecting that a woman in her 30s had fallen for a scam, OCBC Bank staff tried to persuade her not to transfer money out of her accounts.
However, she didn’t listen to them and ended up losing a total of S$330,000.
Source: Google Maps
The cautionary tale started from 16 April, said Mr Peck Chun Hua, an investigator with OCBC’s anti-scam unit.
He told Shin Min Daily News that the woman, who had S$130,000 across two OCBC accounts, had wanted to transfer S$20,000 to an international bank account.
Source: Chun Hua Peck on LinkedIn
Bank staff realised that she had not previously made any transfers to that account.
Suspecting something was amiss, a fraud analyst called her to confirm the transfer.
However, the woman assured them that nothing was wrong and it was a loan to a friend.
It was noted that she sounded nervous and was anxious to transfer the funds.
Fraud analysts’ suspicions were further raised when they discovered that she had wanted to make a total of five transfers to two different accounts.
All five transfers were made out to an email address, with no name or purpose attached.
They immediately contacted Mr Peck, who got in touch with the Singapore Police Force’s Anti-Scam Centre.
After finding that the payee had been flagged as a suspicious account, he stopped the transfer and made a police report.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Timothy Ng, officer-in-charge of the Anti-Scam Centre, said that despite what happened, the woman still refused to believe she had been scammed.
A few days later, she transferred about S$30,000 from her bank account to an international bank account in her name.
Investigators suspended her account, but she insisted they reinstate it and approve the transfers.
The bank arranged a meeting with the woman, where they tried all ways and means to dissuade her but to no avail.
Eventually, she signed an indemnity form with OCBC without hesitation and the bank had no choice but to allow the transaction to go through.
Source: Google Maps
In June, the woman filed a police report after finally realising she had been scammed.
She said the scammer had promised high-return investment opportunities and she had made a total of 27 transfers from her OCBC accounts and those from other banks.
The victim even borrowed money to send to the scammer, losing a total of S$330,000.
She was left with just S$600 in her accounts, with one showing a balance of S$17.
Mr Peck expressed regret over the case, saying that the bank and the authorities had done their best to help the woman.
However, she chose to believe the scammer instead, ultimately paying a hefty price.
What might help in these cases is the Protection from Scams Bill, which was introduced in Parliament on 11 Nov.
If passed, it will give the police the power to issue restriction orders to banks so they can restrict the banking transactions of an individual’s accounts.
These would include money transfers like PayNow, ATM usage and credit facilities.
This will be useful for stubborn victims who remain convinced that they are not being scammed despite the best of efforts by bank and police officers.
Also read: Elderly man nearly scammed of S$150K, saved by S’pore bank employee who blocked his transaction
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.
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