“It’s for home renovations; I need money to pay the contractor,” a bank customer hastily explained to the banking officer at UOB’s Jem branch.

He had maxed out on cash withdrawals via the ATM before speaking to the banking officer over the counter, wanting to withdraw another $20,000 in cash.

But something was off – the staff sensed his unease and noted that it was unusual for contractors to ask to be paid in cash.

To avoid alarming the customer, the officer casually enquired about the home renovation plans he mentioned. When the customer was unable to relay a coherent story, or even the contractor company’s name, the staff raised their suspicions to Mayrick Lee, Deputy Branch Manager of UOB’s Jem Branch.

After some probing, the customer finally revealed that he was contacted by a ‘friend’ in dire need of assistance after being detained at ‘Singapore customs’. He had even been contacted by a ‘lawyer’ and ‘Chinese official’, who instructed him to transfer money to a ‘Chinese embassy’.

Lee had intervened and stopped the transfer just in time, after successfully convincing the customer that they were the target of a government official impersonation scam.

Unfortunately, many victims have not been this fortunate. In 2023, at least $92.5 million was lost to scammers impersonating as government officials according to the Annual Scams and Cybercrime Brief 2023, a significant portion of the $651.8 million total that was lost to scams last year.

Relative to other scam types, such as investment and job scams, reported numbers show that government official impersonation scams saw the highest average losses at about $ $103,657 per case.