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SINGAPORE: An attempt to scam a 72-year-old victim of S$200,000 was foiled by alert staff from Maybank, police said on Monday (Aug 8).
Police said they were alerted of the incident on Aug 2 at about 12.57pm by staff from Maybank's branch at People's Park Centre. Ms Doreen Ong and Ms Christine Ting suspected that something was amiss when the victim requested to transfer the sum to a local bank account, citing that she needed to help a friend who was facing an issue with foreign immigration, the press release said.
Investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department and Central Division confirmed the scam and found out that the victim had been communicating with the unknown suspect via Facebook and WhatsApp for more than five years, and had transferred S$75,500 on two previous occasions.
They added that the victim was eventually convinced that the request for monetary assistance was a scam through "continuous engagement", and police investigations are ongoing.
There has been an increase in the number of scams in Singapore, with a public prosecutor mentioning during a recent case that from March to June this year, police received more than 3,000 calls and reports, of which 155 victims have lost more than S$12 million.
Police said they were alerted of the incident on Aug 2 at about 12.57pm by staff from Maybank's branch at People's Park Centre. Ms Doreen Ong and Ms Christine Ting suspected that something was amiss when the victim requested to transfer the sum to a local bank account, citing that she needed to help a friend who was facing an issue with foreign immigration, the press release said.
Investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department and Central Division confirmed the scam and found out that the victim had been communicating with the unknown suspect via Facebook and WhatsApp for more than five years, and had transferred S$75,500 on two previous occasions.
They added that the victim was eventually convinced that the request for monetary assistance was a scam through "continuous engagement", and police investigations are ongoing.
There has been an increase in the number of scams in Singapore, with a public prosecutor mentioning during a recent case that from March to June this year, police received more than 3,000 calls and reports, of which 155 victims have lost more than S$12 million.
