SINGAPORE — Customers of OCBC Bank will now be able to freeze their own accounts by activating a “kill switch” if they believe they have fallen victim to a scam.
OCBC said in a press release on Wednesday (Feb 16) that the kill switch will “immediately freeze” all of the following:
- Cash withdrawals and deposits, including salary credit
- Incoming and outgoing local and overseas funds transfers
- Bill payments
- Incoming and outgoing general interbank recurring order (Giro) transactions
- Network for electronic transfers (Nets) transactions
- Visa and MasterCard transactions using automated teller machine (ATM) credit/ debit cards physically and digitally
- Digital banking transactions, including on the OCBC Pay Anyone mobile application
A similar feature will be made available at all OCBC ATM machines by March, said the bank.
“Once the kill switch is activated, no transactions – whether done digitally, via an ATM or at branches – can be made. Even recurring or pre-arranged fund transfers will be disabled,” said OCBC.
The announcement by the bank comes in the aftermath of a recent phishing scam that hit 790 OCBC customers who lost a total of S$13.7 million to the scammers. The Singapore-based bank completed arrangements to reimburse all the victims with “goodwill payments” late last month.
The scam prompted Finance Minister Lawrence Wong to issue a ministerial statement on Tuesday that touched on the measures banks and authorities were mulling over to…
