Police may get powers to prevent people from sending money to potential scammers

Police may be getting powers to instruct banks to restrict transactions of potential scam victims, according to a bill tabled in Parliament by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday (Nov 11).

Under the Protection from Scams Bill, the police will be able to issue restriction orders (RO) to banks so long as there is reasonable belief that scam victims will make monetary transfers to the scammer, according to MHA.

Under this bill, money transfers, ATM facilities and all credit facilities (e.g. credit card transactions, personal loan facilities) will be restricted for potential scam victims.

"This will enable the police to better protect targets of ongoing scams who refuse to believe that they are being scammed," the ministry stated said in a press release on Monday

When issued, the RO will be sent by default to the seven major retail banks in Singapore: OCBC, DBS Bank, UOB, Maybank, Standard Chartered, Citibank and HSBC.

Other banks not included may also be sent an RO where there is reasonable suspicion that an account under these banks might be involved.

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Order to be issued as last resort: MHA 

Once in effect, the order will be maintained for a maximum of 30 days; more time may be requested by the police up to a total of five extensions, each also lasting 30 days.

The police will also able to cancel the RO early should they assess that the individual is no longer a scam risk, and individuals may appeal to the Commissioner of Police against the decision to issue the RO.

"The RO will be issued only as a last resort, after other options to convince the individual have been exhausted," MHA also said.

Affected individuals will still have access to a fixed amount of money and can request for additional amounts if necessary by showing proof of the need to access these amounts to police.

$650 million lost to scams in 2023

This bill has been tabled amid a rise in the number of scam cases in Singapore - an increase of almost five times from 9,500 to 46,000 cases between 2019 to 2023.

In 2023 itself, approximately $650 million was lost to scams, MHA stated.

Despite existing safeguards and public education efforts, the number of scam cases involving the voluntary transfer of monies by the victim to the scammer remains high, said MHA.

"The fight against scam requires a whole-of-society approach," the ministry added. "While the government will continue to step up our efforts, everyone must play their part to keep scammers at bay."

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khooyihang@asiaone.com