SG govt proposes anti-scam law to let police place restriction orders on bank accounts

The Singapore government has introduced a new Scams Bill where the nation might be the first to give the police powers to control the bank accounts of stubborn scam victims. The bill proposes to allow the police to issue restriction orders to banks which will restrict the banking transactions of an individual’s accounts. The intent is to protect the individual from losing his money to scammers.

According to MHA, the decision to issue a restriction orders will be made by a police officer, based on an assessment of the facts and circumstances of each case. The police may take into account relevant facts provided by the individual or his family members in making the decision.

The police will only issue restriction orders for scam cases such as cases of cheating that are conducted substantially via digital or telecommunication channels (calls, SMSes, or online communications), money transfers, ATM Facilities and all credit facilities. Traditional cheating cases involving in-person interactions will not be covered.

A restriction order will be in effect for a maximum of 30 days at a time. If more time is required to put in place the necessary intervention measures, the Police can extend the restriction order for up to 30 days at a time, up to a maximum of five extensions.

According to MHA, scams have proliferated in recent years. From 2019 to 2023, the number of scam cases increased almost five times, from about 9,500 to about 46,600 cases. In 2023 itself, approximately SG$650 million was lost to scams.

The government has also worked with banks to put in place a suite of safeguards to protect the public. These include the Kill-Switch, which allows customers to freeze their bank accounts if they suspect that their accounts are compromised, and Money Lock, where customers can set aside a sum of monies that cannot be transferred out of their bank accounts via online means.

However, despite these safeguards and extensive public education efforts, the number of scam cases involving the voluntary transfer of monies by the victim to the scammer (self-effected transfers) remains high, said MHA. In the first half of 2024, 86% of reported scams were the result of self-effected transfers. The scammers did not gain direct control of the victims’ accounts, but manipulated the victims into transferring their monies to the scammers.

MHA added that in some of these cases, the victims were told by the Police, banks or family members that they were being scammed, but they still proceeded with the money transfers. These included victims of investment scams and government officials impersonation scams (GOIS), which contributed to very high average monetary losses.