'Spent 13 minutes asking me irrelevant questions': Woman says HSBC staff lax in stopping $10k fraudulent transfer

Upon receiving a text message from HSBC informing her that her online banking limit had been changed without her authorisation, an alarmed woman immediately contacted the bank.

Several minutes later, while she was still on the phone with the customer service agent, she received another SMS notifying her that $10,402 had been transferred out of her account to an unknown account.

But Weng Linger (transliteration), told Lianhe Zaobao that the fraudulent transfer on Feb 23 could have been prevented if the HSBC employee she spoke to had promptly heeded her request to block any suspicious activity or suspend her account.

Said the 33-year-old media practitioner: "The chat agent spent 13 minutes asking me a plethora of irrelevant questions."

The questions were supposedly regarding when the transfer limit was first set up, if she wanted to set a lower limit and so on.

Despite repeatedly stating that she had not made the change to her banking transfer limit and requesting for her account to be frozen, Weng said the agent did not immediately do so.

After she received notification of the unauthorised transfer, she also asked the agent to cancel the transaction.

"But they said it was too late," she recalled.

"I don't understand, I've already contacted the bank as soon as possible. If they had acted immediately after receiving my call, there would have been enough time [to stop the fraudulent transfer]."

Weng added that she did not find any malware on her devices and had no idea how the transfer was authorised.

She said that HSBC had purportedly acknowledged there was a fault in their handling procedures during their follow-up discussions on reimbursement matters.

Customers can enable 'Kill Switch' function

Responding to Zaobao's inquiry, HSBC said it will fully reimburse the customer after both parties reached a settlement.

With regard to whether the customer service agent's response was timely and if there was a breach of operational procedures, the bank said: "If a customer reports any suspicious activity to the chat agent, the agent must take the most appropriate measures in response to the suspicious activity.

"This may include suspending access to Internet banking or blocking the customer's account. Customers can also enable the 'Kill Switch' function through the hotline."

To activate the function, customers can call the HSBC hotline at 1800 4722 669 or (+65) 6472 2669 if calling from overseas, to access the emergency menu which will freeze all their accounts and Internet banking access.

HSBC also told Zaobao: "We are committed to protecting our customers' assets, financial information and personal details."

The bank is set to roll out the "money lock" security feature to customers this year, which allows users to lock a portion of the funds in their accounts. DBS, OCBC and UOB introduced this feature last November. 

According to an annual scams and cybercrime brief for 2023 by the police, over 50,000 cases were reported last year. Of these, 1,899 were malware-enabled cases, with about $34.1 million lost to scammers. 

For more information on scams or to report fraudulent activities, visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline on 1800-722-6688.

ALSO READ: Scam prevention: DBS, OCBC and UOB customers can 'lock up' savings from online transactions starting this week

lim.kewei@asiaone.com