S’pore man loses S$2.9 million after getting call from ‘local bank’

A man in Singapore was made to believe that he was involved in criminal investigations and may be detained for months.

He was, in fact, speaking to scammers posing as local authorities.

The man was instructed by the “local authorities” to make a series of bank transactions to an account as part of “investigations” and to prove his innocence.

He wound up losing about S$2.9 million.

But what led to his downfall?

A number of factors, such as the scammers using Singapore numbers to contact the victim, as well as the other social engineering tactics they employed to dupe him.

Singapore number calling

Adam (not his real name) received a call from an unknown Singapore number.

As it was not unusual to receive calls from unknown Singapore numbers, he picked up the call and things took a nosedive.

The person on the other end of the line told Adam that he was calling from UOB.

Adam was informed that he was embroiled in a fraud case.

Adam was subsequently referred to another individual who claimed to be a police officer from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD). The “CAD officer” also contacted Adam using a Singapore number.

The “CAD officer” told Adam that he had to be detained as he was suspected to be involved in money laundering.

Scammer controlling bank account

Adam was flabbergasted and claimed he was innocent but the “CAD officer” did not buy it.

The “CAD officer” said Adam had to prove his innocence instead by obeying their instructions.

He had to transfer money out of his account to another account supplied by the “CAD officer”.

The “CAD officer” told Adam that the transferred monies will ultimately go back to him as they had worked with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to open the other account under Adam’s name.

Thinking that the money would ultimately go back to him, Adam made the transfers.

Unbeknownst to him, however, the bank account was under the scammer’s full control.

It is uncertain whether Adam will recover any of the money lost.

Investigations are ongoing.

S$384 million lost to scams using local numbers in 2023

Since the government introduced measures blocking overseas scam calls and SMSes, the days of spoof scam calls from foreign numbers starting with the +65 prefix are now gone.

These days, scammers have come up with a workaround, using Singapore numbers to reach out to unsuspecting victims.

They also use these numbers to receive scam monies, such as via PayNow, and to set up accounts on messaging applications, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, to carry out their scams.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the losses from scams and cybercrimes involving local mobile numbers have tripled from S$137 million in 2021 to S$384 million in 2023.

The number of such cases has quadrupled from 5,867 in 2021 to 23,519 in 2023.

To prevent local SIM cards from falling into the wrong hands and being misused by scammers, MHA introduced the Law Enforcement and Other Matters (LEOM) Bill on Mar. 7, 2024.

It was passed in Parliament on Apr. 2, 2024.

What does the bill do? Who will be penalised?

1) Irresponsible subscribers

The LEOM bill will penalise "irresponsible subscribers" — people who give others their local SIM cards or their particulars to sign up for local SIM cards for unlawful purposes.

Additionally, these irresponsible subscribers may be liable if they gave away their SIM card for any gain, or if they did not take reasonable steps to figure out why the recipient wanted the SIM card.

2) Middlemen

Second, the bill will also penalise middlemen supplying, receiving or possessing local SIM cards, which are registered in other persons’ particulars or unregistered.

Middlemen may be liable for handling 11 or more such SIM cards without legitimate reason, or for dealing with SIM cards previously used for crime.

They may also be liable for buying, selling or renting a local SIM card registered in another person’s particulars, in exchange for money or other benefits.

3) Errant retailers

Third, the bill will penalise mobile service providers or retailers who facilitate fraudulent registrations.

This includes using stolen or false credentials to register local SIM cards, which they then sell to scammers.

The criminalising of such activities complements IMDA’s existing regulations for mobile service providers. It will allow for heavier punishments, such as imprisonment sentences, to be imposed on retailers and employees involved.

What if I transfer SIM cards for legitimate purposes?

The offences are not intended to penalise people who give away their local SIM cards for legitimate purposes.

This includes people who register SIM cards in their names for family members’ use, or employers holding on to SIM cards intended for their employees.

The offences are also not intended to penalise people who were genuinely tricked into giving up their credentials, which were subsequently used to register for local SIM cards.

For instance, should an elderly person's particulars be misused to register for SIM cards, the elderly person would not be liable for an offence if it is found that he had "no reasonable grounds to believe that his particulars would be used".

What are the penalties?

People who commit these new offences will face a jail term of up to three years, a fine of up to S$10,000, or both.

Those receiving, supplying and possessing SIM cards and facilitating fraudulent registrations face higher penalties if they repeat the offence.

Such offenders can be jailed for up to five years, fined up to S$20,000, or both.

How can I protect myself?

Take good care of your SIM cards and personal particulars and do not pass them to strangers, as they might be misused for scams and other crimes.

You can also adopt the following three steps to protect yourself from scam calls and SMSes:

• Add the ScamShield app, which will help block calls and detect SMSes from known scam lines.
• Check for scam signs with official sources. Be vigilant even when the call or message is from a Singapore number.
• Tell your family and friends about scams. If you have information about such scams, you may submit it to the police at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.

The author of this sponsored article by the Ministry of Home Affairs would like to remind the public to be more vigilant.

Top image by Mothership