KUALA LUMPUR: A Singaporean woman in her 30s fell victim to a scam despite numerous interventions by the bank and the police.
According to a report by Singapore newsportal Shin Min Daily News, the woman reportedly met a man on a dating app who gained her trust over time, which led to her making multiple transactions towards him.
OCBC Bank's anti-scam unit investigator Peck Chun Hua revealed that the case began on April 16. A bank staff member noticed the woman trying to transfer SG$20,000 to an international bank account with no prior transaction history.
A fraud analyst then flagged the transaction as suspicious and contacted the woman for verification. She claimed the transfer was a loan to a friend and insisted there was no issue, requesting the bank to process it.
Further investigations by the fraud analyst revealed that the woman had made multiple transfer attempts to different accounts.
The Anti-Scam Centre in Singapore subsequently received this case and found the recipient's account had been flagged as suspicious.
Recognising the pattern as typical of scam cases, Peck blocked the transfer and alerted the police.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Timothy Ng, who is the team leader at the Anti-Scam Centre, said that even after police intervention, the woman insisted she was not being scammed.
She repeatedly contacted the bank's service centre, urging them to approve her transactions.
A few days later, the woman transferred approximately about SG$30,000 from another account to her international account in several transactions. The bank promptly froze this account to prevent further transfers and again informed the police.
Despite these measures, the woman remained adamant. She insisted on reactivating her accounts and authorising the transactions.
The woman even signed an indemnity form with the bank, acknowledging the risks involved.
In June, however, the woman reported to the police that she had indeed been scammed after discovering her account balances were nearly depleted.
She made a total of 27 transfers, losing nearly SG$330,000, including her savings and money borrowed from various banks.