6 Major Banks and Singapore Police Jointly Save Over $73 Million from Scam Attempts

In a two-month joint operation between six major banks and the Singapore Police Force's Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) from Nov 1, 2024, to Dec 31, 2024, over 8,700 bank customers were saved from losing approximately $73 million. The banks involved in this initiative were DBS, UOB, OCBC, Standard Chartered, HSBC, and GXS.

ASC officers and the banks sent around 13,000 SMS text messages to bank customers who were identified as potential scam victims. This detection led to the successful disruption of more than 1,444 ongoing scams, preventing potential financial losses exceeding $73 million.

The operation employed robotic process automation technology to identify likely victims of various scams, including job scams, investment scams, fake friend call scams, and e-commerce scams. These potential victims received SMS alerts about suspicious account transfers and were advised to halt any further transactions. Most recipients, upon receiving the alerts, recognized the scam and subsequently lodged police reports.

Such collaborative efforts in 2024 helped identify and warn over 55,600 potential scam victims, successfully disrupting more than 13,000 ongoing scams in Singapore and safeguarding over $420 million in savings.