SINGAPORE – Once an avid online shopper, Madam Qiu Jing Ting now does not buy anything online any more – out of fear of online scams.
To protect herself and others from losing hard-earned money, the 62-year-old actively reports scam messages on anti-scam app ScamShield.
She recently added another layer of defence against scams, using a “money lock” feature.
The feature was rolled out by the three major local banks – DBS, OCBC and UOB – in November 2023 and allows users to “lock up” a specified portion of their funds. Once locked, the only way to withdraw the funds is to do so in person at a branch or an ATM, depending on the bank.
This prevents locked funds from being transferred out even if a scammer gains digital access to the account.
After the feature was mentioned in Parliament in September 2023, and having heard about it from her friends, Madam Qiu, an OCBC customer, looked forward to the bank’s launch of its Money Lock feature, which was launched in November 2023.
Now, the sales operations employee, who plans to retire at 65, takes comfort in knowing her hard-earned money is protected.
Having this “extra layer of security” is especially important for retirees, said Madam Qiu, as they only have their life savings, unlike those who are still working and can earn back what they have lost from a scam.
“The moment they lose it, that’s it,” she said of retirees.
People of the older generation are not the only ones who need to protect themselves against scams – most victims are tech-savvy young adults, according to scam statistics released by the police in Sept 2023.
Against the backdrop of an increasing number of scams, 36-year-old Alison Liew, a manager in the healthcare industry, was prompted to lock up about three-quarters of his savings using OCBC’s Money Lock feature.
“It’s better to be more cautious, to be a bit more kiasu,” he said.
Mr Liew added that locking up his funds does not cost anything and the process of locking and unlocking them is simple and convenient, noting that OCBC is the only one of the three local banks to allow the release of funds at ATMs.
A spokesperson for the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said more than 61,000 money lock accounts have been set up, with more than $5.4 billion set aside as at Feb 15, 2024.
Banks are also considering customer feedback to improve the implementation of the feature, adding that other major retail banks will introduce the feature by mid-2024, said MAS.