Scammers told woman she was involved in money-laundering probe, she sends S$1.2M over 14 transfers

An elderly woman in Singapore has lost more money than many people will see in their lifetimes to scammers.

The 67-year-old retiree transferred a total of S$1.2 million to scammers who posed as bank and police officers.

Woman receives call from ‘OCBC Bank’

In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao, the woman known only by the pseudonym of “Grace” said it all started on 15 May, when she was having a holiday in China.

The day before she was due to return to Singapore, she received a call from someone claiming to be from OCBC Bank.

They claimed that her account had been used to purchase S$8,000 of items, and asked for confirmation.

As she didn’t usually make transactions with OCBC, she didn’t have the bank’s app installed and couldn’t check her transaction records from abroad, she said.

She didn’t know why she trusted the person on the other side of the line so easily, she added.

‘Police officer’ tells woman her account was likely used for money laundering

When Grace denied making the transaction, she was transferred to someone who claimed to be a police officer.

The man, who spoke Singlish mixed with Chinese, instructed her to cooperate with the investigation by finding a quiet spot to chat with him.

Grace, who was staying with ...