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18-01-2025, 10:50 PM
Police orders to restrict bank transfers will be ‘last resort’ after engaging with scam victims: Sun Xueling. New law expands beyond its original digital scope to traditional cheating cases.
SINGAPORE’S police will issue orders for banks to limit scam victims’ transactions only as a last resort, after exhausting all other means to protect them, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling in Parliament. This is provided for under an anti-scam law passed on Tuesday (Jan 7), which has been expanded beyond its original digital scope to apply to traditional cheating cases as well. In the debate on the Protection from Scams Bill, Sun addressed concerns about the intrusiveness of restriction orders, which can be issued by specified officers such as the police and commercial affairs officers.
Orders can be issued if there is “reasonable belief” the person will transfer funds to a scammer. However issuing officer must first explore other interventions & issue the restriction order only if these other attempts fail, she said in her closing speech. “These interventions could include engaging the relatives of the victims or other persons,” she said in response to Nominated MPs Usha Chandradas and Razwana Begum, who asked about other scam risk mitigation measures.
For example, an officer may get a scam victim’s sibling to agree to monitor the victim’s bank transactions via a joint account, and advise the victim against further transfers to scammers. In this case, the officer may not have to issue a restriction order.
SINGAPORE’S police will issue orders for banks to limit scam victims’ transactions only as a last resort, after exhausting all other means to protect them, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling in Parliament. This is provided for under an anti-scam law passed on Tuesday (Jan 7), which has been expanded beyond its original digital scope to apply to traditional cheating cases as well. In the debate on the Protection from Scams Bill, Sun addressed concerns about the intrusiveness of restriction orders, which can be issued by specified officers such as the police and commercial affairs officers.
Orders can be issued if there is “reasonable belief” the person will transfer funds to a scammer. However issuing officer must first explore other interventions & issue the restriction order only if these other attempts fail, she said in her closing speech. “These interventions could include engaging the relatives of the victims or other persons,” she said in response to Nominated MPs Usha Chandradas and Razwana Begum, who asked about other scam risk mitigation measures.
For example, an officer may get a scam victim’s sibling to agree to monitor the victim’s bank transactions via a joint account, and advise the victim against further transfers to scammers. In this case, the officer may not have to issue a restriction order.
