Bank teller who foiled love scam among 9 to get award

What started off as another day at work for Ms Sheila Chow took a surprising turn when she saved a customer from losing $1,500 in a parcel ruse involving an Internet love scammer.

The bank teller was on duty on Sept 26 at OCBC Bank's Nex branch when she came across an unusual request from a customer.

"The customer was in her early 40s and she submitted a request for a transfer to an overseas personal account.

"As bank tellers, we verify the customer's relationship with the recipient and the purpose of the transfer.

"After speaking with the customer for 25 minutes, I realised she was being cheated by a stranger online," said Ms Chow, 26.

Ms Chow was one of nine women who received the Singapore Police Force's (SPF) Public Spiritedness Award at the Ang Mo Kio Police Division yesterday.

The award is given to members of the public who help to stop criminal acts.

In Ms Chow's case, she acted quickly to protect the customer from the scam. "We put ourselves in the shoes of the customer, who may have lost her hard-earned money without our intervention," she said.

She referred the customer to Ms Andrea Ng Chia Ching, a service officer at the branch, who also received the award.

Ms Ng learnt that the customer had established a relationship online with a man who claimed he had sent her expensive clothes that were seized at Malaysian Customs.

The victim was instructed to pay $3,500 to an account number for her parcel to be let through to Singapore. Having paid $2,000 through an online transfer, she tried to make a telegraphic transfer at the OCBC branch before the bank staff intervened.

Ms Ng, 48, said she accompanied the victim to Serangoon Neighbourhood Police Centre, where the woman filed a police report.

Both Ms Ng and Ms Chow said they were honoured to receive the award and proud to have prevented the customer from becoming a victim of the scam.

Another award recipient, who wanted to be known only as Ms Yap, 37, is a sales promoter from the Remax outlet at the Compass One shopping centre. She identified a serial shoplifter who had attempted to steal from her store five times, and called the police to detain the suspect on July 26.

Ms Yap, a married mother of three, said her family was proud of her achievement.

Six others were given the award for stopping customers from falling prey to iTunes gift card scams amounting to a total of $3,200.

The SPF also presented Community Partnership Awards to 7-Eleven and FairPrice.