‘We couldn’t save her from herself’

The Protection from Scams Bill was introduced in Parliament on Nov 11, and will give the police powers to control the bank accounts of stubborn scam victims. Nadine Chua speaks to bank and police officers on the difficulties in convincing some people that they are being scammed.

- Nadine Chua

In April, a woman in her 30s with more than $130,000 in her two OCBC savings accounts wanted to transfer $20,000 to an international bank.

Suspecting she had fallen prey to a scam, five officers from OCBC Bank and the police's Anti-Scam Centre tried to talk her out of making the transaction.

Over three days, they made at least five calls to her, each lasting over 30 minutes, to convince her she was being duped.

But the woman, a claims manager, refused to believe them and insisted it was a loan to a friend. She even signed an indemnity form with OCBC confirming she knew the risks involved.

Having exhausted all means, OCBC allowed the transaction to go through.

It did not take long for her to realize her mistake.

Two months later, she filed a police report, finally admitting she had been scammed. By then, she was left with less than $600 in both accounts. One of them had just $17.

In her police report, she said she not only transferred scammers the $130,000 from her OCBC accounts, but had also lost a total of about $330,000 after taking multiple loans and emptying out her accounts at other banks.

OCBC's anti-scam unit investigator Peck Chun Hua recounted this case to The Sunday Times on Nov 20 to show how difficult it can be to help stubborn scam victims who insist they are not being scammed despite evidence showing they are.

This comes after the Protection from Scams Bill was introduced in Parliament on Nov 11.