OCBC employee stops man from losing $17,000 in internet love scam
An alert bank staff member at OCBC stopped a man from remitting $17,100 overseas in an internet love scam.
On Thursday (7 Sept), Ng Lay Kheng, who works at OCBC Tampines Branch, was commended by police for preventing a 55-year-old man from falling prey to an online scammer.
The victim went to the bank on 30 August and wanted to remit $17,100 to a person in Malaysia to pay for an “Anti-terrorism certificate” in order for a parcel to clear immigration. Ng alerted the police when she heard this.
Police intercepted the remittance and stopped the victim from suffering further losses.
According to preliminary investigations, the victim met a woman on a social networking site and developed a romantic relationship with her. Before 30 Aug, he been asked to remit money to Malaysia on various occasions for reasons such as payment for examination fees, parcel fees or immigration clearance fees.
Investigations are ongoing.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information on such scams may call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
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