Police could get powers to freeze bank accounts of scam victims under MHA proposal
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 23 Aug 2024
Author: David Sun
This comes as the number of scam cases and amount lost in the first half of 2024 hits record highs; currently, the police cannot stop a victim from doing what he wants with his money, even if he is suspected of being scammed.
When a scammer claiming to be a government official accused an elderly woman of money laundering, she handed $2.3 million to money mules she thought were police officers.
The scammer had tricked her into thinking the Singapore Police Force was corrupt, and told her not to tell the police anything.
With the number of scam cases and amount lost in the first half of 2024 hitting record highs, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is studying measures to give the police more powers to restrict scam victims’ banking transactions.
On Aug 22, the police released the mid-year scam and cybercrime statistics.
It showed the scam situation here has worsened, with victims losing over $385.6 million in the first six months of 2024. This is 24.6 per cent more than the $309.4 million lost in the first half of 2023.
The number of scam cases in the first half of 2024 also increased by 16.3 per cent to 26,587, from the 22,853 cases during the same period in 2023.
One of the challenges that the police have said they face is convincing people when they are victims of a scam.
Currently, they cannot stop a victim from doing what he wants with his money, even if he is suspected of being scammed.
The additional powers being considered for the police will involve a restriction on banking transactions when the authorities believe the victims will transfer money to scammers.
The police said the restriction will be time-limited. This means bank accounts will be frozen temporarily, so officers can convince victims they are being scammed, and investigate who they are transferring the money to.
MHA intends to conduct public consultations on the proposal, with more details expected to be released in the coming months.
In the case of the 80-year-old woman, the scammer had convinced her not to trust the police, so she refused to speak to them when they showed up at her home address.
When they took her to the Police Cantonment Complex in New Bridge Road, she accused them of building the entire complex just to cheat her.
As she was technically of sound mind, the police did not have the powers to stop her from withdrawing her money and handing it to scammers.
It took about two months and plenty of persuasion involving her own family, police officers and psychologists before she finally believed them.
By then, she had lost more than $3.6 million to scammers.
The police said some people often need a lot of convincing as they could be victims of love or investment scams, who are either heavily swayed by their emotions or have used significant amounts of money.
This makes it difficult for them to get out of the situation, said the police.
During the briefing, the police also revealed that as at July 31, more than 114,000 customers have used the Money Lock function, with over $9 billion of savings now set aside.
The feature is offered by the seven major retail banks – DBS Bank, OCBC Bank, UOB, Maybank, Standard Chartered, Citibank and HSBC.
It allows users to “lock up” a specified portion of their funds, which cannot be touched via digital transactions.
The locked money can only be withdrawn or transferred in person at an ATM or at a branch, depending on the bank.
The feature was first rolled out by DBS, OCBC and UOB in November 2023.
In response to queries, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said other retail banks are also looking to roll out the feature.
“With this, the vast majority of the retail depositor base in Singapore is now able to utilise Money Lock for greater assurance,” said an MAS spokesman.
“Money Lock accounts will be protected from phishing scams. For scams that involve customers authorising the transfer, Money Lock adds substantial friction.”
The spokesman added that as at June 30, those aged 50 and above make up 42 per cent of users. Those aged 30 to 49 account for 43 per cent, and those under the age of 30 form 15 per cent of users.
In April, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan said in Parliament that there were no plans at the time to make Money Lock mandatory for all banking institutions.
Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
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