Over $200m recovered by Anti-Scam Centre; new command targets scammers before victims make report

Speaking to the media, the director of CAD, Mr David Chew, said the new command partners more than 60 institutions, including local and foreign banks, non-bank financial institutions, cryptocurrency houses and remittance service providers.

Mr Chew introduced representatives from four such partners during a media session on the seminar.

They were from Standard Chartered Bank, Singtel, cryptocurrency platform Coinhako and gaming firm Razer.

Mr Chew said building close working relationships with such institutions was critical for the Anti-Scam Command to swiftly freeze accounts, recover funds and reduce losses suffered by victims.

He said the command will continue to work with banks and fintech companies to develop systems that use artificial intelligence to identify and block suspicious transactions.

Currently, only DBS Bank has an employee co-located at the Anti-Scam Centre in the Police Cantonment Complex.

It was previously reported that both OCBC and UOB banks also have plans to have staff working from the centre.

Mr Yap Jee Hoe, head of client diligence and fraud risk management at StanChart, said it is committed to fighting scams and it, too, will send an employee to the centre.

“We remain strongly committed to protecting our customers, and to do so, we have to be part of this anti-scam ecosystem,” he said.

“I do hear a lot of stories from scam victims, and it’s quite painful. I feel for them.”

He added that the partnership with the new command has proven fruitful.

Mr Yap said that just last month, the partnership enabled them to help a bank customer recover close to $300,000 that was almost lost to scammers.

“The victim was, of course, very grateful,” he said.

“We hope other players will come on board to also partner the Anti-Scam Command and further raise awareness of scams so that everyone is protected.”