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Man, 70, nearly loses S$355,000 to scam, prevented by bank staff who spotted warning signs
He made a large cash withdrawal and was notably impatient with his request.
August 30, 2025, 05:05 PM
A 70-year-old man nearly lost a significant sum of S$355,000 to a scam after he attempted to comply with the scammer's demands at a bank.
He was fortunately saved from falling prey by the bank's staff, who intervened in time after noticing warning signs in the man's behaviour.
"Property purchase"
The incident occurred at Bank of China's (BOC) Toa Payoh branch on Aug. 15, the bank said in a Facebook post.
The man requested a premature termination of four fixed deposits and S$155,000 in cash.
He also asked for a cashier's order, or bank cheque, for the remaining S$200,000, allegedly to be made "for a property purchase".
His insistence on the large cash withdrawal from his fixed deposits was among the warning signs noticed by the staff at the bank, BOC said.
He was also visibly impatient with his request, was unwilling to explain it further and was seen texting an unknown person about the withdrawal, all of which BOC referred to as "possible scam indicators".
Staff's intervention
A team of staff then verified the "property purchase" with the man's daughter and joint account holder, who said she was unaware of any purchases being made.
The staff also successfully stalled the process by explaining that there was a three-day processing period for large cash withdrawals, and advised the man to make a cashier's order to self instead.
This would mean the cheque would be payable to the man himself, instead of to the seller of the alleged "property".
A police report was later made, confirming that the man had been targeted by scammers impersonating officers from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) who pressured him to transfer his funds out of his bank account.
No money was eventually lost.
BOC has reminded customers to be aware of requests for urgent transfers or large withdrawal sums, as well as supposed government requests to move funds for "security checks".
Top images via Bank of China/Facebook & Google Maps
