Standard Chartered Bank suspends man's digital access after he transferred large sums of money

Standard Chartered Bank temporarily suspended a 71-year-old man’s access to digital banking after he transferred large sums of money from his account.

This prevented the man from losing about $1.5 million in an investment scam, said the police.

The man had made initial payment on investments presented by a foreign acquaintance.

Encouraged by the promise of quick returns on the investments, the victim believed in the legitimacy of the investments and progressively made more large-sum transfers to different bank accounts as instructed by the scammer.

Through proactive analysis and detection, both the Anti-Scam Centre of the Singapore Police Force and the bank's anti-fraud team detected the large-sum transfers made from the man's bank account.

The Anti-Scam Centre then sent an SMS to the man to be wary of scams.

To protect him, the bank’s anti-fraud team temporarily suspended his access to digital banking and initiated contact with man, who was interviewed by the bank’s relationship manager about the purpose of the transactions.

However, the man was not convinced that it was a scam.

Based on the red flags, the case was subsequently referred to the Anti-Scam Centre where officers swiftly engaged the man and successfully convinced him about the scam.

The timely intervention by Anti-Scam Centre and the bank officers had prevented the victim from potential losses amounting to approximately $1.5 million.

The police said you should be vigilant against investment scams, where scammers would approach you through social media platforms, communications and dating applications that include Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, Coffee Meets Bagel and Tan Tan.

Scammers would introduce “investment opportunities” such as cryptocurrencies, forex or stocks and direct you to deposit money into these “lucrative investment opportunities”.

After making payment, you would then realise that you could not withdraw your money.