OCBC, SPF say joint operation prevented scam losses of over S$22.4 million
OCBC and the Anti-Scam Centre of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) say they have successfully prevented over S$22.4 million in potential financial losses by disrupting over 830 ongoing scams.
SPF said in a press release on Thursday (Aug 17) that it had conducted a four-month joint operation with OCBC from Apr 16 to Aug 15.
The operation used robotic process automation technology to automatically identify job, investment and other scam victims. SPF and OCBC then sent out SMS alerts to over 2,800 victims, all of whom were OCBC customers.
“The collaboration between the police and OCBC Bank has also expedited the detection of ‘live’ scam victims, enabling the police to promptly alert a larger number of scam victims and prevent further losses,” said SPF.
“Many of these victims only realised they had fallen prey to scams after receiving SMS alerts from the police advising them to immediately cease further monetary transfers.”
Scam variants as well as their victims have been on the rise.
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The police recently warned the public on a new variant of loan scams affecting Android users, whose information were stolen via malware. Such scams registered a total loss of about S$18,000 between July and mid-August.
In early August, Minister of State for Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim also said that concert ticket scam victims lost a total of S$518,000 between Jan 1 and Jul 10. This amount was more than 50 per cent higher than in the past five years combined.
Earlier this year, police reported increasing rental scams with losses mounting to over S$190,000, with at least 144 victims between January and March.
SPF urges the public to “ACT” against scams – Add security features, Check for signs, and Tell the authorities and others about scams.
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