By Bing Hong Lok
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore passed a new law on Tuesday allowing police to freeze bank accounts of scam victims as a “last resort” measure to prevent further losses.
The law empowers police to issue restriction orders to banks if they assess that it is necessary to protect a victim who is likely to make bank transfers to a scammer, withdraw money and give it to a scammer, or apply for draw-down from a credit facility to benefit a fraudster.
The wealthy Asian financial hub has been a major target of scammers, with 26,587 cases recorded in the first half of 2024 accounting for S$385.6 million ($283.34 million) in losses, according to police statistics. Scam victims lost S$651.8 million in 2023, with a record loss of S$660.7 million in 2022.
Police will consider factors such as whether or not the victim has transferred money to the scammer and is still communicating with the scammer.
These curb orders last for 30 days and police can renew the restriction up to five times or lift the order.
The orders will by default be issued to Singapore’s seven major retail banks: OCBC, DBS, UOB, Maybank, Standard Chartered, Citibank and HSBC. Other banks can also be included.
Sun Xueling, the minister of state for home affairs, said the intent was to “ensure that this is done as quickly as possible” and restriction orders should be imposed or lifted within hours and not days.
“Speed is of the essence in order to protect these individuals and minimise losses, which in some cases might involve all of the victim’s life savings,” Sun said in parliament on Tuesday.
She added that authorities could not succor the victim indefinitely and if that person persisted in making transfers to scammers after the maximum restriction order period, “the responsibility must lie with the individual”.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said it would consider expanding the restriction orders to cryptocurrency exchanges, remittance companies and e-wallet providers should scammers shift their tactics to exploit these platforms.
($1 = 1.3609 Singapore dollars)
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
