Elderly woman avoids losing S$260,000 to scammers after StanChart employee intervenes

In November, following the instructions of the second scammer, the woman sold her unit trust investments that she held with Standard Chartered Bank, amounting to more than S$260,000.

The money was to be transferred to a third-party bank account provided by the scammer, purportedly to assist in investigations. 

“The transaction was detected by a Standard Chartered Bank relationship manager, who noticed the victim’s unusual banking behaviour and outgoing transfers to a suspected mule’s bank account,” said the police.

He promptly escalated the case to the Standard Chartered Bank anti-fraud team, who contacted the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) for intervention.

The authorities worked with the bank’s anti-fraud team to trace the flow of the funds, which led to them identifying and freezing all the scammer-controlled accounts. 

This prevented the loss of over S$260,000, said SPF.

The police added that ASC officers also promptly followed up with the victim to alert her of the scheme.