More than 700 victims told to halt transfer of money to 'scam-tainted bank accounts': Police
Potential losses of more than S$12.6 million from over 700 victims were “successfully safeguarded”, say the police.
File photo of a person holding a mobile phone. (Photo: iStock)
SINGAPORE: More than 700 victims were alerted by the authorities to stop transferring money to "scam-tainted" bank accounts after a joint operation by the police and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC).
In total, potential losses of more than S$12.6 million were “successfully safeguarded”, the police said on Sunday (Apr 16).
The police’s Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) and OCBC carried out a joint operation from Mar 16 to Apr 15 to target scams. During the operation, officers from the ASC and the bank analysed fund flows to more than 500 bank accounts that surfaced in scam reports.
They identified victims who were transferring money into these “scam-tainted bank accounts”, and more than 1,000 SMSes were sent to alert them of the ongoing scams.
"More than 700 victims were alerted that they could have fallen prey to scams and were advised to halt further monetary transfers," said the Singapore Police Force.
“Victims would only realise that they had been deceived after they received the SMSes from the police."
To increase the speed of intervention, ASC officers developed a system to automate the process of information sharing, processing and sending of SMSes to the victims.
The Robotic Process Automation technology allowed the police to alert scam victims early and helped them to mitigate their financial losses, said the police.
The SPF warned people to safeguard themselves against scams by adding security features such as ScamShield and two-factor authentication for personal accounts.
Users should also set up transaction limits for internet banking to limit the amount of money possibly lost in a scam.
People can also check for potential signs of a scam by asking questions and fact checking requests for personal information or money transfers.
