SINGAPORE – The Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) and four banks foiled over 2,700 scams and prevented financial losses of more than $56 million during a two-month joint operation.

The banks are DBS, UOB, OCBC and Standard Chartered, the police said on March 6.

During the operation from Jan 1 to Feb 29, robotic process automation technology was used to identify potential victims of scams relating to jobs, fake friend calls and e-commerce.

The technology automates information sharing and processing, and with it, ASC officers and banks could expeditiously reach out to the potential victims.

They were notified through SMS about the scams they were involved in and prevented from making any further monetary transfers.

Many of them realised that they had fallen prey to scams only after receiving the SMSes.

During the two-month operation, ASC officers and the banks sent more than 15,000 SMSes to over 11,000 potential scam victims who are customers of the banks, preventing the loss of more than $56 million.

The police advised the public to adopt preventative measures, such as never installing software from unverified sources and ensuring that no one is watching when keying personal particulars or bank login details.

They added that people should tell their friends and family about potential scams, and not to be pressured to act impulsively.

The public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam helpline on 1800-722-6688 to find out more about scams.