UOB staff allegedly falls for scam, discloses information of 1,166 China-national customers

UOB said some personal information of 1,166 customers who are China nationals had been disclosed by a staff, with preliminary findings showing that the employee had allegedly fallen prey to a China police impersonation scam.

The information comprised the customer names, identification and mobile numbers and account balances of these customers with Singapore-based accounts, the bank said on Friday. Their bank account numbers were not disclosed, and the bank said its information technology systems remain secure.

The employee involved has been suspended, and is assisting the police with their investigations.

In a statement on Sunday, an Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) spokesperson said MAS takes a serious view of the customer data breach in UOB, and has been actively engaging the bank on its internal controls, mitigation measures, and management of the customers involved.

"MAS will take action against UOB if MAS' regulatory requirements were breached or supervisory expectations not met."

UOB said on Friday it has written to all affected customers.

The bank added it has taken several precautionary measures to protect them as they may be targeted by scammers. These measures include immediately disabling their Internet and mobile banking access, and stepping up account monitoring of affected accounts.

UOB said: "We are very sorry that our customers have been placed in this position. We will continue to make every effort to work with them on keeping their accounts safe."