Singapore’s Home Ministry is opening consultations on new rules that would allow police to order banks to restrict the banking activities of people who refuse to believe they are being defrauded.
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The new fraud protection law is expected to be introduced in the coming months. The aim is to give police more powers to stop people sending money to scammers, even if they have been warned by authorities, family and friends that they are being scammed.
This generally happens in internet romance scams or identity theft scams.
According to the MHA, in the first half of 2024, 86% of reported scams involved the victim’s voluntary transfer of funds to the scammer.
Restriction Orders (ROs) are only issued for fraud cases that are carried out exclusively through digital or telecommunications channels, and not for face-to-face interactions where it is often initially unclear whether a crime has occurred.
The MHA says: “ROs will only be issued if the police have reason to believe that the person is being targeted by a fraudster and is able to make transfers to the fraudster in the foreseeable future, and after other options to contact the victim convince, have been exhausted.” have failed.”