KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — Can you stop your bank account from being drained once you’ve been scammed? And are there ways to stop scammers from reaching you in the first place?
As scams become more sophisticated, authorities are turning to a combination of technology, new laws, and behavioural science to fight back.
Here are some examples of what Singapore is doing to try and prevent scammers from getting their hands on their victims’ money, according to Singapore University of Social Sciences’ associate professor Soh Kee Hean, an ex-police officer with 30 years’ experience.
Banks, police: SMS alerts, Money Lock and more
Robotic process automation (RPA): This system automates the detection of abnormal, irregular or suspicious bank transactions, sending out text messages to bank customers to alert them they may be a potential victim of a scam and advise them to stop further money transfers.
“Without the help of technology, the bank officer and the law enforcement officer will have to eyeball every transaction and then try to send messages to contact these customers. So with technology, it helps a lot,” he said at the recent 2025 ACFE Fraud Conference Asia-Pacific held here.
According to Malay Mail’s tally based on press releases on the Singapore police’s website, its police’s Anti-Scam Centre’s partnership with Singapore banks in multiple operations using RPA had successfully prevented bank customers from losing at least S$712 million (RM2.34 billion) since 2023 up to June this year.
During that same period, at least 158,000 SMS alerts were sent out.
AI-powered surveillance: Banks use artificial intelligence (AI) to detect anomalous transactions, with some even integrating behavioural insights to better understand and flag unusual customer activity.
Soh also cited the example of the UK’s Santander Bank, which has a “Break the Spell” team to talk to their customers to help them realise they are being scammed and to not give money to scammers.
This prevented £13.7 million (RM77.8 million) in scam losses from 2021 to February 2024.
Money Lock: Freezing cash in accounts to prevent scammer from draining them — or at least delay this.
Bank customers can voluntarily and immediately lock funds in their bank accounts from being used for any online transactions, and only release the funds by physically going to the bank to verify their identity. Some banks also allow identity verification at ATMs.
This feature has been offered by some banks in Singapore as early as November 2023, and Maybank had this January said it was the first bank in Malaysia to offer it. OCBC Malaysia this month also launched this feature.
Legal intervention powers: Protection from Scams Act 2025.
Before this, both police and banks had no power to stop scam victims from giving money to scammers. There were cases where victims insisted on making the money transfers, even after being alerted that they were being scammed.
Under this new law enforced since July, Singapore police now have powers to stop scam victims from transferring money out of their bank accounts, if police believe they are being defrauded.
This is a last resort option for when bank customers still refuse to believe they are being scammed, with Singapore police having issued two orders to banks as of August 20 to restrict two customers’ transactions.
In 2024, Singapore tightened its laws to make it easier to prosecute money mules who let their bank accounts be used by scammers.
Proactive disruption: Blocking scams at the source
Singapore’s Government Technology Agency (GovTech) uses AI via its Scam Analytics and Tactical Intervention System (Satis) platform to analyse and identify malicious websites and block access in Singapore to these scam websites.
“So, if a user tries to access the website, then he may just see a red screen with a warning, and it may have a warning from the police to alert the person that this is a malicious site that has been blocked by the authorities,” Soh said.
“And it works in the background 24/7.”
Enforced since February 2024, Singapore’s Online Criminal Harms Act also gives authorities the powers to block and disable harmful content online in Singapore, including to:
Under this law, Singapore issues codes of practice to e-commerce service providers (such as Carousell, Facebook Marketplace) and social media platforms (such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram) to counter online scams.
These providers are required to have mechanisms to detect, enable reporting, respond to and take down malicious content to disrupt scams.
On its side, Malaysia has introduced the Online Safety Act 2025, which is aimed at fighting scams or financial fraud and also requires mechanisms to reduce exposure or block access to such online harmful content.
