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‘I felt something was wrong’: How a DBS bank teller’s instinct saved customer from $70K scam
Years of building rapport with customers helped the DBS assistant service manager recognise when a routine transaction was anything but normal
DBS assistant service manager Yu Chunmei at the Thomson Plaza branch, where her attentiveness helped stop a customer from losing $70,000 to a scam.
PHOTO: DBS
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When a customer walked up to the bank counter at Thomson Plaza to withdraw $70,000 in cash, something seemed off.
Ms Yu Chunmei has handled thousands of transactions in her five years as an assistant service manager at DBS Bank. But this customer’s hands were trembling, and she seemed visibly nervous.
“For someone who said she was about to start a home renovation, the customer did not appear excited or happy at all,” said the 37-year-old. “That’s when I felt something was wrong.”
The customer, in her 60s, was withdrawing almost all of the savings in her bank account. After asking a few more questions about the customer’s renovation plans, Ms Yu also learnt that she had not engaged a contractor or interior designer.
That was when the alarm bells went off. She alerted her manager immediately. At that point, a man in a cap who had been sitting behind the customer approached the counter and slipped them a note.
It read: “Can we talk privately – without her?”
He turned out to be her husband. In a private room, he explained that someone posing as an insurance agent had called his wife the day before.
When the wife insisted that she did not have a policy with that insurance company, the caller claimed her bank account was linked to criminal activity. Soon, accomplices posing as police and other authorities joined the call, instructing her to withdraw $70,000 for an “investigation”.
The callers assured her the money would be returned once their investigation was complete and said they would arrange a pickup location to collect the money from her.
They warned her to keep her phone on so they could track her movements and demanded she report to them every two hours. Terrified and sleepless, she had come to the bank that morning – with the scammers on the line.
When Ms Yu and her manager realised this, they got the customer to switch off her phone and explained that she might be a victim of a scam.
Building trust and stopping scams, through connection
To prevent the scammers from accessing her funds, Ms Yu locked the customer’s savings with DBS digiVault
For Ms Yu, this incident reinforced why it is important to make an extra effort to have conversations with her customers, who are mostly seniors.
“Most of them don’t use credit or debit cards, so each month, they withdraw a sum of money for groceries. I always ask them what they are using it for and if they look worried, I’d get more details from them,” says Ms Yu.
“Customers don’t mind because we tell them that there are many scams going on now in Singapore and we have to protect their interests.”
With over five years of experience, Ms Yu builds trust through daily conversations – a human touch that plays a vital role in scam prevention.
PHOTO: DBS
She adds that some senior customers do not use Internet banking, so they prefer to visit the branch in person to get advice on banking matters. As a DBS staff member, she is trained regularly to recognise and report the latest scam methods.
The bank also offers courses on Internet banking and fraud prevention at selected branches for customers.
Ms Yu adds: “When asked to do something by a possible scammer, try and discuss the matter with your family first, as they may be more clear-minded than you.
“If someone on the phone says they are from the police or a bank, make a trip to a police station or the bank branch to confirm this.”
A 360 approach to preventing scams at DBS
Beyond staff training and customer education, DBS has also developed digital features to help protect customers and their funds. They include a ‘Money Lock’ feature in the app to lock their money in the same way they would lock their valuables in a safe.
To prevent scammers from performing unauthorised digital transfers, this DBS digiVault feature lets you lock the money in your current and savings accounts or set up a separate locked account for an allocated sum of money. Locked amounts continue to earn interest at the current rate and can be unlocked at any ATM or a bank branch.
Internet banking users can also further safeguard their funds by locking selected functions like PayWave in real time with the Payment Controls feature on their app, card by card.
For Ms Yu, her job has made her more vigilant at home. She always updates her parents and husband on the evolving nature of scams
“My job has really changed a lot because of the scams out there. I have to be very careful in spotting them.”
And although the banking industry has evolved with advances in artificial intelligence and technology, she says that some customers are still more comfortable speaking with bank staff, face to face.
“The human touch is still very important in the digital age.”
This case is just one of many where DBS employees have stepped in to stop scams in real-time. Through a combination of digital tools, behavioural science and staff vigilance, DBS’ broader anti-scam strategy has positioned the bank as one of Singapore’s leaders in proactive scam prevention.
Learn more about other scams and how you can bank safely DBS digiVault.
