Police, banks prevent losses of more than $53m to scams in September and October
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Bank customers were alerted after suspicious transactions were identified using Robotic Process Automation.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
SINGAPORE – A collaboration between the police and five banks thwarted over 1,338 scams in progress between Sept 1 and Oct 31, preventing potential victims from losing more than $53 million in all.
The police on Nov 8 said its Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) worked with DBS Bank, HSBC, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and UOB to foil the job, investment, e-commerce and fake friend call scams.
Potential scam victims were identified using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology, which uses artificial intelligence to analyse data to identify patterns, anomalies and trends that may indicate fraud.
ASC and the five banks sent over 9,000 text messages to more than 6,700 bank customers, alerting them to the suspicious transactions which the scammers had asked them to make.
The text messages also advised them not to make more transactions.
RPA streamlined the processing and sharing of information, the police said, which allowed them to quickly reach out to the potential victims.
Most of those who had fallen prey to scams then lodged police reports.
The police have advised members of the public to practise “ACT” measures – add security features, check for signs, and tell the authorities and others about scams – in order to protect themselves from scams.
The 46,563 scam cases reported here in 2023 marked the highest number of scam cases recorded since the police started tracking them in 2016. Victims in Singapore lost $651.8 million in 2023.
