SINGAPORE: A 56-year-old man who lost $250,000 to a conman posing as a bank employee managed to successfully recover all his money, thanks to Standard Chartered Bank and the Anti-Scam Centre of the police.
The conman told the man during a phone conversation that there had been a suspicious transaction on his credit card, police said in a statement.
The call was then transferred to another person who pretended to be a police officer and claimed that the man was a victim of identity theft and that money in his bank accounts had been frozen.
How Did The Scam Unfold?
The statement said: “To assist in the purported investigation, the man was then instructed to open a new Standard Chartered bank account online and to transfer a total of $250,000 from accounts held with other banks into the newly created account.”
The man also followed the scammer’s instructions to provide the login details and password for the new account to support the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s fake investigation into the account.
Scam Alert Rung!
The man only realised he might have been scammed after telling his family about the incident.
The police told The Straits Times that the victim received the call from the bank officer and was referred to the fake police officer on May 24 and that a police report was filed on June 6.
How Did A Man Recover $250,000 Lost to Scammers?
“Officers from the Anti-Scam Centre were alerted to this case and Standard Chartered’s anti-fraud team immediately blocked online banking access and suspended the bank account, preventing any fund movement,” said the police, adding that the full sum was recovered on June 6.
Police Advisory
Police said government officials, especially police officers, would never ask people by phone or text message to do the following: make bank transfers, provide personal banking information, or the Central Provident Fund-related details, click links to the websites of banks and install third-party applications or software on your digital devices.
Government officials in other countries also do not have the legal authority to ask Singaporeans to disclose such information.
Precautionary Measures
Police advised the people to contact them if they met in person with a “Chinese police officer” in Singapore to pay money or obtain and sign documents for bail or an investigation.
Police also advised the public to take ACT measures to combat fraud, namely: adding security features, monitoring for signs of fraud, and reporting fraud to authorities and others.