OCBC pays phishing victims; MAS says all customers should be treated fairly
OCBC said it has, to date, made goodwill payouts to more than 30 customers who fell prey to the recent SMS phishing scam impersonating the bank.
Almost 470 customers have lost a total of S$8.5 million since last December.
In a statement on Monday (Jan 17), the lender acknowledged that its customer service and response "fell short of our customers' expectations, especially at a time of stress and anxiety".
The affected customers started receiving the goodwill payouts since Jan 8, which are being "made on goodwill basis after thorough verification, taking into account the circumstances of each case".
OCBC said it needed more time to get back to the remaining affected customers, who will be contacted as soon as the review and validation of their case have been completed.
In a separate statement, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it expects all customers to be treated fairly, and has been following up with the bank on the recent scams and broader issues relating to the incident.
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OCBC will conduct a thorough probe to identify the deficiencies in its processes and implement the necessary remedial measures. MAS will consider "appropriate supervisory actions" following this review.
"MAS takes a serious view of the recent phishing scams involving OCBC Bank. They have significantly impacted several customers," said Ho Hern Shin, MAS deputy managing director of financial supervision.
OCBC said its investigation has confirmed that the victims had provided their online banking log-in credentials to phishing websites.
Thereafter, the scammers were "very fast" in fraudulently transferring the monies out of the customers' bank accounts.
The bank flagged that this "particularly aggressive" scam had preyed on people's fear that there was an issue with their bank accounts or credit cards.
Past cases of SMS phishing scams largely targeted consumers with "too good to be true" deals.
The phishing attacks first surfaced at the start of December 2021 and became increasingly aggressive over the year-end holiday period.
"We strongly condemn this scam as it preyed on consumers' fear and was a highly-coordinated one. I sincerely ask our customers to allow us the time to conduct a thorough review and validation before we inform them of the payouts. We seek our customers' patience and understanding as investigations are complex, and we apologise that our response fell short of our customers' expectations during their time of distress," said OCBC chief executive Helen Wong.
She stressed that the bank's systems remain safe and secure.
"Digital banking remains a convenient way to do banking. We do not want this scam to take that away from us, but scammers are increasing in sophistication. I urge everyone to stay alert and do your banking only at the bank's official websites and on the official mobile apps," said Wong.
MAS expects all financial institutions to have robust measures for fraud prevention, detection, and remediation, and to provide prompt assistance to customers who have been victims of scams, said Ho.
The regulator is working with the Association of Banks in Singapore on industry-wide measures that may need to be taken to ensure that digital banking remains secure, efficient, and trusted.
Apart from issuing alerts and media advisories, OCBC said it has reached out to customers who might not be aware that their banking activities were susceptible to the scam, so as to prevent more people from falling prey.
A dedicated team has since been set up to support the victims.
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