Singapore Police Force Successfully Intervenes in Two Scams and Avoids Losses of $218,900

At the end of 2024, the Singapore Police Force's Anti-Scam Center (ASC) partnered with two major banks to combat two scams and avoid $218,900 in losses.

In November last year, the 69-year-old victim accepted a job offer from an online friend.

The job required the victim to trade goods through a website. She needed to place orders for goods from so-called suppliers and pay in advance, and then sell the goods to “customers” to get sales commissions.

The victim purchased more from the “supplier” as the orders increased. By the end of November, the victim transferred $112,000 to the “supplier”.

In December, the victim went to the Standard Chartered Bank to withdraw $200,000 in cash, but was stopped by bank staff. The staff found frequent cash withdrawals from her account, and she was unable to present any invoices, so they suspected that the woman was trapped in a scam.

After Standard Chartered contacted the ASC, officials quickly engaged with the victim and eventually managed to stop the $200,000 loss.

In another case, the scammer claimed to be a WeChat staff and said that a 56-year-old victim's WeChat insurance policy was about to expire, and that she needed to pay a fee to cancel the policy in order to prevent additional fees from being automatically deducted. The victim then transferred $69,000 to a bank account designated by the scammer.

When the victim tried to transact with the scammer again, DBS staff noticed an anomaly and suspended the transaction.

ASC officers quickly intervened and prevented the victim from further losing $189,000.