Mr Tan pointed out that the recovery of money lost to scams is “very difficult”.
“Where we have been able to, it involved close partnerships with financial institutions, particularly by having a DBS staff co-located with SPF at the ASC to provide swifter and real-time coordination and intervention.”
As such, the ASC and MAS are working with more banks to co-locate their staff at the ASC so as to enhance the centre’s capabilities to freeze accounts and trace the flow of funds, he told the House.
The ASC also taps on technology, for instance, in automating manual work processes so that police resources can be focused on critical investigations and enforcement work.
RAMPING UP PUBLIC EDUCATION
But enforcement by itself is not sufficient, said Mr Tan, adding that the “best defence” against scammers is “a discerning public”.
The Government has been working on this, such as by rolling out an anti-scam public education campaign “Spot the Signs. Stop the Crimes”.
“As part of this campaign, we have disseminated materials advising the public on scam prevention tips, such as never to share one-time-passwords or your OTPs, with unverified parties and to be aware of requests for gift cards or online credits,” he said.
Authorities have also rolled out prevention initiatives targeted at specific segments of the population.
While scam victims are of a wide range of ages, Mr Tan noted that different profiles of victim fall prey to different types of…
