Insisting her husband who lived abroad needed money, a woman in her 70s tried to transfer more than $50,000 at UOB's Tampines branch in September.
But when bank staff asked her for the couple's proof of marriage, she claimed they had married overseas and her husband had kept the marriage certificate and wedding photos.
Fearing she could be a love scam victim, UOB encouraged her to make a police report. She initially cooperated but later tried to make a second transfer, prompting UOB to freeze her account.
Furious, she verbally abused the bank's staff.
Other banks also said their employees have had rude encounters with customers, while trying to prevent them from losing their life savings to scammers.
Between January 2020 and June 2023, victims in Singapore lost almost $1.9 billion to scams.
UOB's Tampines deputy branch manager, Mr Denethor Wong, said he suspected the woman had never met her "husband" and warned her it was a scam.
Reading their conversations, he saw that the scammer had showered her with sweet nothings only to borrow money from her.
"He said: 'Hi, baby, have you done the transfer already? Is it okay?' And he kept pressing her," said Mr Wong.
The woman agreed not to transfer the money on that first visit and lodged a police report on the bank's advice.
But about two weeks later, she tried to transfer around $3,000 to another account claiming it was for her birthday celebration. UOB thought it strange, and noted that her birthday was earlier in the year.
The bank froze her account when it detected the account she was trying to transfer the sum to had been flagged as suspicious.
She stormed back to the branch, where she railed against Mr Wong, saying: "Despite my age, I'm very sharp. You're not even as sharp as me. You are not doing me any favours."
Esta historia es de la edición November 12, 2023 de The Straits Times.
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Esta historia es de la edición November 12, 2023 de The Straits Times.
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