SINGAPORE - In August, bank executive Chew Jia Zhen lost $3,000 in a scam after she was tricked into transferring the amount to a scammer who pretended to be her friend on the phone.
"He was very convincing. He said he sent screenshots of a bank app that looked genuine, asking me how to change his contact details as he had lost his phone. I thought he was asking me because I work in a bank," said the 48-year-old. "I never thought a scam like this would happen to me, this made me realise it can happen to anyone."
On Saturday, Ms Chew told her story on how she was scammed to 20 seniors at a banking workshop for customers at the OCBC Bank branch in Tampines.
The approach of getting scam victims to share their experience is an unusual move by OCBC to rope in scam victims to educate elderly customers on the different types of scams that can happen to them.
On why it is using victims' accounts, the bank said the elderly will be able to better remember how the scams took place through hearing from the victims themselves.
The latest workshop comes on the back of a spate of high-profile phishing scams that saw 790 OCBC customers lose $13.7 million in December 2021.
Besides scam prevention, the bank also conducted one-on-one training on digital banking at the workshop.
Other than Tampines, these 90-minute sessions will also be held at OCBC branches in Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Pasir Ris, Tiong Bahru and Toa Payoh. The bank aims to reach 400 elderly customers through these workshops by mid-2023. It is also planning to feature first-person accounts from near-victims, family members or bank staff who have stopped scams.
OCBC said almost one in three customers who walk into its branches for over-the-counter teller transactions is aged 60 and above, mostly for cash withdrawals and deposits – banking services that could be replaced or reduced by digital payments.
Retiree Zohrah Abdullah, 65, who attended Saturday's workshop, said she was also nearly scammed by someone impersonating a Health Ministry official who said he wanted to talk to her about Covid-19 cases in her family.
She picked up the call as the caller's number did not start with +65 – a sign of scams that she is aware of.
"I was worried as my daughter just had Covid-19. An automated voice said, 'press one for English', but a voice started speaking in Mandarin instead after I pressed, and I realised something was off."
Her husband, Mr Zainal Abidin, 67, said he learnt how scammers take advantage of people's kindness and their emotions. "This session really wakes us up, (to realise) that even if you are smart and educated, you can become a victim."
