Usage of the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology during a coordinated effort by the Singapore Police Force’s Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) and six banks to detect potential victims of job, investment, fake friend call, and e-commerce scams, led to the disruption of over 1,444 ongoing scams and averted potential financial losses of more than SGD 73 million.
The participating banks, who took part in the two-month operation, from 1 November 2024 to 31 December 2024, were DBS Bank, UOB Bank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC Bank, and GXS Bank.
During this period, ASC officers and the partnering banks sent out more than 13,000 SMSes to over 8,700 bank customers identified as potential scam victims, an official news release stated.
This is the 6th joint operation in 2024 between ASC and the partnering banks to combat scams through the upstream detection of potential scam victims.
Over the 12 months, this collaborative and proactive effort to identity and alert potential scam victims had resulted in the successful disruption of over 13,000 ongoing scams for more than 55,600 potential victims, safeguarding more than SGD 420 million of their savings.
What is RPA technology?
The adoption of RPA technology streamlined the sharing and processing of information, enabling the Police to swiftly reach out to potential scam victims through SMSes.
The SMS alerts notified the potential scam victims to the transfers to suspicious accounts and advised them against effecting further transfers. Upon receiving the SMSes, most victims would realise that they had fallen prey to a scam and would come forward to lodge a police report.
The Police urged members of the public to “ACT” against scams. The ACT acronym outlines how members of the public can Add security features, Check for signs, and Tell the authorities and others about scams.
ADD – Add security features such as the ScamShield application and two-factor authentication for personal accounts, such as banks, social media, and Singpass accounts. Transaction limits for internet banking, including PayNow, could also be set up to limit the amount of funds that can be lost in the event of a scam.
CHECK – Check for potential signs of a scam by asking questions, fact-checking requests for personal information and money transfers, and verifying the legitimacy of online listings and reviews. Take the time to pause and check. If it is too good to be true, it is probably untrue, and a scam.
TELL – Tell the authorities and others about scam encounters by reporting to the bank, ScamShield, or by filing a Police report. Tell others about ongoing scams and preventive steps they can take. Report the fraudulent pages and/or monikers to the respective platforms.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit https://www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the ScamShield Helpline at 1799. Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/i-witness. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
