In February 2025, the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) worked with DBS Bank and OCBC Bank to foil two separate scam cases, preventing more than $900,000 in losses for the victims.
Case 1 - DBS Bank prevented $52,000 in losses in a Government Official Impersonation Scam
In the first case, on 15 February 2025, a 57-year-old woman was contacted by an ‘insurance agent’, who informed her that she was required to pay premiums for an insurance policy purchased under her name. When the victim said that she did not purchase the said insurance policy, she was referred to another scammer impersonating an officer from the “Monetary Authority of Singapore”, to assist in investigations. The second scammer claimed that her personal particulars had been leaked and that an investigation would be conducted. The scammer then advised the victim to transfer money from her existing bank accounts to a bank account provided by the scammer, purportedly to protect her funds. On 17 February 2025, the victim attempted to transfer $52,000 from her DBS bank account to the provided bank account. This was quickly detected by the DBS Anti-Scam Team, who found the transaction suspicious, and escalated it to ASC. Officers from ASC swiftly engaged the victim to understand the situation. After highlighting the potential red flags to the victim, she realised that she had fallen prey to a government official impersonation scam. The swift intervention successfully prevented the loss of $52,000 for the victim.
Case 2 - OCBC Bank prevented $850,000 in losses in a Job Scam
In the second case, on 18 February 2025, ASC was alerted by OCBC Bank that a 72-year-old woman had attempted to transfer $500,000 to a bank account. When the OCBC Bank staff enquired more on the purpose of her transaction, the woman explained that she was lending money to her friend who required money to pay for a job opportunity. Suspecting that she had fallen prey to a scam ruse, OCBC Bank sought assistance from ASC to intervene. Officers from ASC engaged the woman and her friend to find out more about the ‘job’ scheme.
During the engagement, the ASC officers discovered that the woman’s friend, a 40-year-old man was a victim of a job scam. Sometime in January 2025, the man was introduced to a job opportunity by the scammer whom he had befriended on a social media platform. The job required him to create a merchant shop on a fraudulent e-commerce website and to fulfil “sale” orders by making payment to various bank accounts provided by the scammer. Between 3 and 17 February 2025, he had deposited more than $580,000 into an online e-commerce business account to complete his assigned ‘job’ tasks. As the victim did not have sufficient capital, he had wanted to borrow $500,000 from his friend, the aforesaid woman, to fund the ‘business’ and had planned to deposit an additional $350,000 into the bank account provided by the scammer to continue fulfilling the ‘job’ orders. The prompt escalation by OCBC Bank and the timely intervention by ASC prevented further losses amounting to $500,000 from the woman, and further losses amounting to $350,000 from the man.
ACT Against Scams
The Police would like to advise members of the public to adopt the following precautionary measures:
- ADD – Add the ScamShield app and set security features (e.g. set up transaction limits for internet banking transactions, enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Multifactor Authentication for banks and e-wallets).
- CHECK – For scam signs with official sources such as the ScamShield helpline (1799). You can also check the legitimacy of suspicious messages, phone numbers and website links via the ScamShield app or visit the ScamShield website at www.scamshield.gov.sg. Check with the merchant listed in the advertisement/post to ensure that the post is reputable and legitimate.
- TELL – Tell the authorities, family, and friends about scams. Report any fraudulent transactions to your bank immediately.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the ScamShield Helpline at 1799. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!
Annex A
DBS Bank staff and ASC officer intervening in Case 1
Zulkarnain A. Hamid (left), DBS Singapore’s Anti-Scam Command Ops Team Lead, and ASP Winston Li (right), Senior Investigation Officer from the SPF Anti-Scam Centre, worked together to prevent potential losses of $52,000.
OCBC Bank staff and ASC officer involved in Case 2
From left to right: Chan Chuan Sean (Customer Service Manager, OCBC Harbourfront Branch), Hu Weixiang (Investigator, OCBC Anti-Scam Unit), Catherine Poon Mei Yee (Service Officer, OCBC Harbourfront Branch), ASP Eileen Tok (Senior Investigation Officer, SPF Anti-Scam Centre), Priscilla Low (Customer Service Manager, OCBC Harbourfront Branch) and Patrick Liau (Service Officer, OCBC Harbourfront Branch) worked together to prevent potential losses of $850,000.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
24 March 2025 @ 4:55 PM