The Police and Citibank would like to alert members of the public to a recent uptick of phishing scams involving the impersonation of the bank’s staff. Since 27 June 2025, there have been at least nine cases with losses amounting to at least $153,000.
In this scam variant, victims would receive calls from unknown caller IDs or private numbers from scammers impersonating staff from Citibank’s Fraud Department. To make their claims more believable, the scammers would provide victims’ name, recent credit card transaction history and credit card information. On the pretext of helping victims to urgently reverse fraudulent or suspicious transactions, the scammer will ask the victims to disclose the Citibank authorization OTPs sent to them via SMS. These would then be used to make unauthorised transaction in their Citibank accounts. In some cases, the scammer will abuse these OTPs to take over the victims’ internet banking account. Victims would only realise that they had been scammed when they discovered unauthorized transactions, typically in foreign currencies e.g., GBP being made on their bank cards.
The Police and Citibank would also like remind members of the public never to provide your bank account details or OTP to any unknown persons. Members of the public are also advised to carefully read OTP notifications sent via SMS and report unauthorized transactions to the bank. Members of the public are generally reminded to adopt the following precautionary measures:
- ADD – Add the ScamShield app and set security features (e.g., set up transaction limits for internet banking transactions, enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Multifactor Authentication for banks and e-wallets. Use Money Lock to secure a portion of your savings.
- CHECK – Banks will never ask you to share an OTP over a call to assist with cancellation of a fraudulent transaction. Always check the content of the SMS to ensure it relates to a transaction that you are authorizing. Look out for notifications from your bank and if you are unsure what the notification means, immediately check with your bank. Check for scam signs with official sources such as the ScamShield Helpline (1799). You can also check the legitimacy of suspicious messages, phone numbers and website links via the ScamShield app or visit the ScamShield website at www.scamshield.gov.sg.
- TELL – Tell the authorities, family, and friends about scams. Report any fraudulent transactions to your bank immediately.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!
Annex A: Screenshots of Call Logs
Annex B: Screenshots of Notifications Received
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
23 July 2025 @ 3:45 PM