Proposed bill lets police block bank transactions in ongoing scams

The bill does not cover traditional cheating cases involving in-person interactions.

Singapore has proposed a bill allowing police to issue Restriction Orders (DOs) to banks, temporarily halting transactions for individuals targeted in ongoing scams who refuse to believe they are victims.

Under the proposed Protection from Scams Bill, the police will only issue ROs for scams conducted solely via digital or telecommunication channels.

The bill will not cover traditional cheating cases involving in-person interactions.

ROs can suspend money transfers through online banking, mobile banking, and in-person over-the-counter, out of the victim’s bank accounts and into other accounts.

It can also suspend all credit facilities, including credit card transactions and access to personal loan facilities.

In the case where the victim has more than one bank, the police will issue the RO all the seven Domestic Systematically Important Banks (D-SIBs) in Singapore: DBS Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, United Overseas Bank, Citibank, Malayan Banking Berhad, Standard Chartered Bank, and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said the ROs will only be issued for 28 days in the first instance, allowing the police to take further measures to atop the ongoing scam.

After 28 days, if the police asses that the victim is still at risk of being scammed, they will renew the RO for another 28 days.

MHA said police will only issue ROs if they have reason to believe that the individual targeted by a scammer may make transfers to the scammer within the foreseeable future and after other options to convince the victim have been exhausted and have failed.

Individuals issued an RO may also appeal to the MHA against the authorities' decision.

MHA will have the final decision on the issuance of RO.

The public may share their feedback on the proposed bill until 30 September on  https://go.gov.sg/feedbackscamsbill, the REACH website, or through email to  scams_feedback@mha.gov.sg.