Banking and Other Scams in Singapore: What You Need to Know

In a recently reported incident of an attempted Singapore banking scam, a DBS employee succeeded in dissuading an elderly client from withdrawing her savings “for an investment” until the next day, buying time for an investigation. An angry client who insisted she needed $190,000 in cash was taken aback by the bank’s questioning and became defensive about not being able to withdraw her funds.

After almost two hours of strained conversation at the bank counter, the client left, planning to return for her money the next day while the police Anti-Scam Centre was running an investigation. The police were finally successful in demonstrating to the woman that she was the target of a scam.

However, many Singaporeans were not as lucky, losing almost $3.88 billion to scams between 2020 and September 2025. In response, the government made amendments to the criminal law, introducing a maximum penalty of 24 strokes of cane for scammers.

How Scammers Target Susceptible People?

In the DBS bank fraud case involving an elderly scam victim in Singapore, scammers tried to convince their target to give them cash for an examination as part of a money laundering investigation. Pretending to be bank personnel and law enforcement officers, they coached their victim on what to tell the DBS staff and convinced her to report her locations three times a day over the course of three days.

However, scammers in Singapore use various methods to lure even the most cautious and digitally savvy targets. For example, fraudsters can impersonate banks and government organisations, send phishing emails and messages, publish fake listings for product sales, make fake friend calls, or send fraudulent investment offers.

MAS Regulations on Banking Fraud

According to the Shared Responsibility Framework, financial institutions in Singapore have to protect their customers’ accounts through various measures, including identifying unauthorised transactions and blocking transactions when a customer’s account is being quickly drained. For example, an account is considered quickly drained if the customer initiates a transfer of more than half of the balance or at least $50,000 cumulatively in a single day.

In total, banks and financial institutions have five key duties, including a 12-hour cooling-off period, real-time transaction monitoring, enabling customers to block accounts instantly, notifying of new logins, and fraud surveillance. In turn, telecommunication companies have to deploy scam filters for malicious links and block suspicious senders.

The financial scams law in Singapore obliges banks and telcos to provide partial reimbursement to victims of scams if these organisations fail to perform their duties. However, where the banks and the telcos acted as required by the law, consumers bear full losses.

Legal Consequences of Scams in Singapore

In October 2025, Singapore passed the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, setting higher penalties for scammers. According to the amendments, scammers acting as members of a group can face fines of up to $100,000, imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both, and no less than 6 strokes of cane.

The penalties escalate for inciting other persons to participate in a scam, using threats or intimidation, or targeting vulnerable individuals, with sentences reaching 5-7 years and fines up to $700,000. At the same time, the Ministry of Home Affairs proposed mandatory caning between six and 24 strokes for scammers and up to 12 strokes for so-called mules who help launder scam proceeds or provide SIM cards and SingPass credentials.

How to Protect From Scam

While the banks and authorities fine-tune their safeguards to protect Singaporeans from scams, they encourage members of the public to take individual precautions to keep themselves safe.

Among suggested measures, it’s recommended to add security features to devices, such as the ScamShield app, to protect from scam messages and calls, and use antivirus apps to protect from malware. When receiving calls or messages from someone, it’s always advisable to verify the caller’s or sender’s identity with their organisation, which they represent.

In addition, individuals have the right to claim reimbursement from banks and financial institutions if they fail to fulfil their bank staff legal duties in Singapore. Other legal recourse for scam victims includes reporting scam in Singapore to the police and taking court action.