Alvin Tan on Shared Responsibility Framework for phishing scams

With the “waterfall approach” taken under a proposed Shared Responsibility Framework (SRF) for phishing scams, only if a bank and telco fully discharge their stipulated duties will the customer at the “bottom” have to bear the loss. Besides assigning accountability for scam losses, this approach also incentivises banks and telcos to strictly uphold the desired safeguards which should in turn “materially reduce” the risk of phishing in the first place. Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Board Member Alvin Tan said this in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 7) in reply to MPs’ questions. He said the number of phishing scams continued to rise in the first half of this year compared to the previous period, but declined as a proportion of total scam cases - from 17 per cent to 13 per cent. The average loss per phishing scam also fell by 20 per cent. Based on the MPs’ feedback, Mr Tan also said the authorities will work with banks to make it easier for customers who need physical tokens to request and receive them.