SINGAPORE: A woman called HSBC on Feb 23, 2024, as soon as the bank reached out via text to tell her that a change she did not authorise had been made to her online banking limit.
She was still on the phone with the bank when another text said that $10,402 was transferred from her account to one she did not know.
She told Chinese news daily Lianhe Zaobao that she had asked the HSBC agent she spoke to suspend her account or block any suspicious activity as soon as she got on the phone. This would have prevented the loss from her account.
But instead of acting promptly, the agent kept asking her several “irrelevant” questions for 13 minutes straight, said Ms Weng Ling’er, a 33-year-old media practitioner.
These questions included when she set the fund transfer limit and whether she wanted the limit lowered at the time. Her repeated requests to freeze her account were allegedly ignored, and the agent reportedly failed to take quick action.
Then, when she received a second message regarding the fund transfer, she requested it be cancelled. However, The HSBC agent told her it was too late.
“When I saw it, I immediately asked them to terminate the transaction, but they said it was too late. I didn’t understand. I have already contacted the bank as soon as possible.
If they received the call, they should handle it immediately,” Lianhe Zaobao quotes her as saying.
Ms Weng found no malware on her phone and could not understand how the unauthorised transaction went through.
She made at least six follow-up calls to the bank regarding her interaction with the agent and claimed that HSBC admitted to its error in handling her call.
HSBC told Lianhe Zaobao that the matter had been settled and that Ms Weng would be fully compensated. It added that a “Kill Switch” is available for account holders.
This feature was launched in 2022 and is described by the bank as “an emergency stop button for customers to suspend their account if they suspect they have fallen victim to a scam.
With the Kill Switch, customers can suspend their bank accounts quickly, preventing scammers from accessing their money.”
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The steps to enable HSBC’s Kill Switch may be found here. The bank added that it will launch a Money Lock feature later this year to safeguard against fraud. /TISG
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