In June 2025, the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) worked with OCBC to foil a government official impersonation scam case, preventing losses amounting to S$300,000.
On 11 June 2025, a 64-year-old woman received a call from someone allegedly from the Credit Bureau (Singapore) Pte Ltd, who claimed that three loans had been approved under her name. When the victim denied applying for any loans, she was transferred to another scammer posing as a police officer. The “police officer” claimed she was a suspect in a money laundering case and investigations would be conducted against her. The victim was under the impression that she was assisting with police investigations, and complied with the caller's instructions to transfer funds from her bank accounts as part of the investigation.
On 12 June 2025, the scammer instructed the victim to withdraw S$300,000 in cash from her OCBC account. The victim attempted to perform the withdrawal at OCBC Bank’s OCBC Centre branch, and provided inconsistent versions of withdrawal when queried by the attending bank staff. Noting that the victim appeared to be receiving instructions from her phone, the bank staff suspected that she had fallen prey to a scam ruse and escalated the case to the ASC. ASC officers engaged the victim at the branch on the same day and convinced her that she had fallen prey to a government official impersonation scam.
In total, the victim suffered losses amounting to S$475,000 across five separate transactions, from multiple banks, over two days. The swift intervention by ASC and OCBC prevented the victim from losing an additional S$300,000.
ACT Against Scams
The Police would like to advise members of the public to adopt the following precautionary measures:
- ADD – Add security features (e.g. enable International Call Blocking options on mobile devices, enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) or Multifactor Authentication for online accounts, Money Lock your bank accounts to further secure a portion of your savings). Do not send money to anyone you do not know or have not met in person before.
- CHECK – Check for scam signs with official sources (e.g. call the ScamShield Helpline at 1799 or visit www.scamshield.gov.sg), or with someone you trust. Never disclose your personal information (including SingPass and CPF-related information), internet banking and social media account details, and One-Time Passwords (OTP) to anyone. Always monitor the transaction alerts sent by your bank.
- TELL – Tell the authorities as well as your family and friends if or when you encounter scams. Report and block any suspected scam accounts and chat groups. If you suspect that you have fallen victim to a scam, call your bank immediately to report and block any fraudulent transactions as well as make a police report.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the ScamShield Helpline at 1799. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
25 July 2025 @ 4:25 PM