Banks’ anti-scam measures avert, recover S$57.6 million in first nine months: ABS

BANKS in Singapore have prevented and recovered a total of S$57.6 million from scam losses in the first nine months of the year, the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) said on Tuesday (Oct 24).

Newly introduced anti-malware tools have further protected customers from potential losses of at least S$18.6 million, even as they are progressively rolled out across banks, the association added.

It noted that banks will continue to introduce new anti-scam measures and enhancements – which may cause some inconveniences for customers.

However, these are necessary safeguards to protect customers against scammers and maintain confidence in digital banking services, it explained.

“The fight against scams is never-ending and requires a combination of efforts from the authorities, banks and the public at large,” said Ong-Ang Ai Boon, director of ABS.

She added: “While banks are committed to do their part to protect customers against scams and will exercise empathy towards customers who had fallen for scams, community vigilance remains critical in the fight against scams.”

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ABS reminded the public not to click on unknown links and maintain healthy scepticism against deals or promises that are too good to be true.

In the past few months, all three local banks have introduced various anti-scam features on their respective digital banking apps, such as restricting a customer’s access on the app in the event of any ongoing screen-sharing or screen-mirroring activities.

Notably, OCBC in August added a new security feature on its app which prevented users who have downloaded apps from unofficial stores from using the lender’s digital banking services.

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That feature was said to have prevented scammers from making away with more than S$2 million.

ABS said that it has been working with banks to raise awareness to new scam typologies and protect themselves, by alerting customers to malware scams and cautioning their customers to install apps from only the official app stores.