https://www.tnp.sg/news/woman-nearly-loses-300000-scammers-impersonating-insurance-agents?ref=home-top-list
75-year-old retiree nearly loses $300,000 to scammers impersonating insurance agents
A woman was almost scammed out of her $300,000 life savings after she believed she was communicating with a government official.
Ms Cai, a 75-year-old retiree who worked as a teacher for 40 years, told Shin Min Daily News that she was home alone when she received a call from someone claiming to be an insurance officer.
The caller claimed that someone had used Ms Cai's personal information to buy an insurance policy, and the monthly premium cost $900.
"I was very scared, and then another person who claimed to be a manager called me and said he could help me discreetly cancel the policy," she said.
"But the condition was that I couldn't tell anyone about it."
She then received two calls from two individuals claiming to be employees of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Through a video call, they asked Ms Cai to show her bank account balance and claimed they would launch an investigation.
"They kept brainwashing me, saying it was a money laundering case and there had been 900 similar cases so far."
The scammer repeatedly emphasised that the case was extremely confidential and must be kept secret from everyone, including bank employees.
Ms Cai believed them and followed their instructions.
The next day, she went to OCBC Bank to withdraw her life savings of $300,000.
"I also followed the instructions and explained to the bank staff that I wanted to buy gold," shared Ms Cai.
"At that time, the bank staff asked me if I could cash the cheque instead. I even walked aside and secretly called the scammer because the scammer said that no one else could find out."
An alert bank employee noticed something amiss and stopped Ms Cai in time.
Ms Cai revealed that her savings included the sum she received after selling her home, and she would not know how she would manage had she been scammed.
The bank employees called the police and helped Ms Cai with blocking the phone numbers of the scammers.
Ms Cai's insurance-related fraud call is not an isolated case.
Mr Huang told the Chinese daily that he received a call from a person claiming to be from NTUC.
The caller told the 59-year-old that he had an insurance policy that was about to expire.
"I didn't buy any insurance at all, but they urged me to make a decision within an hour, otherwise they would deduct $900 from me."
Mr Huang was confused and nervous, so he asked to cancel the plan, but the call was transferred to another person.
He was told to go to the NTUC Centre, or he could use the online link for convenience.
"I read the newspapers often and knew not to click on random links, so I hung up the phone immediately."
Mr Huang later reported the incident on ScamShield and found that the same number had been reported by several others.
ScamShield is a suite of products and tools that help the public defend themselves against scams.
The app allows users to check suspicious calls, websites and messages for scams, and the helpline offers 24/7 support in verifying potential scams.
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