'Full goodwill payouts' for all OCBC customers hit by scams
Over 100 have received payouts; bank to make arrangements with remaining victims by next week
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All OCBC Bank customers affected by a recent spate of SMS phishing scams last month will receive "full goodwill payouts" covering the amount they lost, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
More than 100 of the nearly 470 victims, who lost a total of at least $8.5 million, have already received the payouts and the bank will make arrangements with all remaining affected customers by next week, it added.
"We seek the understanding and patience of our customers as thorough validation of each case requires time to ensure accuracy. This process is necessary so that every case is fairly and properly treated," said OCBC group chief executive Helen Wong. "We apologise for taking more time than expected to resolve the issues with our customers during this time of distress and anxiety."
Ms Wong said the bank has contacted customers who might not be aware that their banking activities were susceptible to the phishing scam. "This has helped to prevent another 200 and more customers from falling prey to the scam," she added.
Yesterday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore announced a range of new measures that banks will have to put in place within the next two weeks, including removing clickable links in SMSes or e-mails sent to customers.
Some victims in last month's scams had lost life savings built up over the years for their families.
The victims received unsolicited SMS messages purporting to be from the bank, claiming there were issues with their banking accounts and they had to click on a link given in the message to resolve the issue. The link led to fake bank websites and victims were asked to key in their Internet banking account login details.
Many victims of the latest scams were fooled because the SMS sender name "OCBC" was spoofed by the scammers, and the fake SMS messages were grouped in the same SMS thread with genuine ones sent previously by the bank for one-time passwords and transaction alerts.
OCBC said on Monday it had been making goodwill payments to affected customers since Jan 8.
In a separate statement on Monday, the MAS said it would consider supervisory actions against OCBC and that it expected all customers to be treated fairly.
Some victims who are still awaiting their payouts told The Straits Times yesterday that they were relieved by OCBC's decision on goodwill payments.
One of them, a 38-year-old man, said the bank should have told the victims about the full payments earlier instead of leaving them anxious. The fintech professional lost about $10,000 via the scam.
Another victim, Adam (not his real name), said: "Since the phishing scam is creating more awareness and causing people to lose confidence in OCBC, reimbursement is the only way to stop the negative impact on its brand image." The 36-year-old, who works in the home renovation industry, lost about $5,000. "I'm happy that all the victims can sleep well again, and put the traumatic experience behind them," he added.
