Losses of over $17.1m prevented after more than 800 ongoing scams disrupted by police and banks
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Between Aug 15 and Friday, the police and banks sent more than 5,000 SMSes to over 4,000 bank customers who had fallen for scams.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
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SINGAPORE - The police and banks disrupted more than 800 scams to help prevent losses of over $17.1 million in a month-long operation.
The police’s Anti-Scam Centre partnered six banks – DBS, UOB, OCBC, HSBC, GXS and Standard Chartered – to identify victims of scams, including job and investment scams, using robotic process automation.
Victims were then alerted via SMS to prevent losses.
Robotic process automation allows the police to automate information sharing and processing, as well as the mass distribution of SMS alerts, the police said in a statement on Wednesday.
Between Aug 15 and last Friday, the police and banks sent more than 5,000 SMSes to over 4,000 bank customers who had fallen for scams. They disrupted more than 800 scams and averted losses of more than $17.1 million.
More than 600 PayNow numbers were also blacklisted, which prevented losses of $70,000. The police can share information about compromised PayNow numbers with partnering banks, so banks can act quickly, the police said.
They added: “This collaborative initiative was a direct and proactive response to address the alarming escalation of PayNow abuse.”
The partnership with banks has improved their outreach to alert more victims quickly to prevent further losses, the police said. Many victims realised they were being scammed only after receiving SMS alerts from the police advising them to stop transferring money immediately.
The police urged people to set up security features such as the ScamShield phone app and two-factor authentication for personal accounts such as bank, social media and Singpass accounts.
Bank account holders should set transaction limits for Internet banking, including PayNow, which can limit the amount of money that scammers can steal.
To check for potential signs of a scam, people should ask questions, fact-check requests for personal information and money transfers, and verify the legitimacy of online listings and reviews. If an offer is too good to be true, it is probably a scam, the police said.
Scam encounters should be reported to the affected bank, ScamShield or the police. Others should be warned about ongoing scams and told how to avoid falling for them.
For more information on scams, visit www.scamalert.sg
Those with information on such scams may call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000 or visit www.police.gov.sg/iwitness
According to mid-year scam statistics released on Sept 13 by the police, there were 22,339 scam cases reported from January to June, a 64.5 per cent increase from the 13,576 cases during the same period in 2022.
But the total amount victims lost in the first half of this year dipped slightly to $334.5 million, from $342.1 million during the same period last year, the police said.
They added that 55 per cent of victims lost up to $2,000.
