QUESTION NO 2027

NOTICE PAPER 1263 OF 2022

FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

Date: For Parliament Sitting on 1 August 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Desmond Choo, MP, Tampines GRC

Question:

To ask the Prime Minister regarding the review arising from the phishing scam on OCBC customers (a) what is the interim arrangement or understanding with banks when losses occur, pending the completion of the proposed framework for equitable sharing of losses arising from scams; and (b) whether the Ministry has seen a decrease in the prevalence of bank-targeted scams since safeguards such as the removal of clickable links in e-mails or SMSes sent to retail customers were implemented earlier this year. 

Answer by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Minister in charge of MAS:

1. Banks have progressively implemented the anti-scam measures announced in January and June. Specifically, banks have stopped sending clickable links in e-mails or SMS to retail customers, and have been closely coordinating with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) Anti-Scam Centre to support rapid account freezing and fund recovery operations. According to statistics from SPF, the number of phishing scams involving banks has declined from a high of 839 during the OCBC phishing scams in December 2021 to 113 in May 2022.

2. MAS will be publishing a consultation paper on equitable framework for sharing of losses arising from scams. However, pending implementation of the framework, MAS continues to expect banks to thoroughly investigate all scam cases and treat their customers fairly. Customers who had practised good cyber hygiene and were diligent in protecting their login information and one-time passwords from being divulged to third parties should not have to bear losses.  

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