Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) expressed concerns over the “worryingly common” occurrence of scams carried out against senior citizens.
“With many seniors able to withdraw large amounts of money from the CPF accounts once they reach 55, this group may be a prime target for scammers,” he wrote in a Facebook post on July 1.
Because of this, Mr Giam recently asked a Parliamentary question on the issue.
The Aljunied MP asked if daily withdrawal limits or enhanced scrutiny is imposed by the CPF Board in the event of unusually large withdrawals of CPF funds to safeguard against scams.
In one example of senior citizens being targeted by scammers, last month, a 77-year-old woman lost $150,000 to scammers claiming to be from “China Interpol”.
Scammers who pretended to be from “China Interpol” said that the woman’s accounts would be frozen due to suspicion that she was part of a money-laundering scheme.
After the scammers offered to hold on to the money for her for safekeeping, the retiree withdrew $150,000 and placed it in an envelope the scammers sent her.
Following the instructions in a phone call from the man from “China Interpol,” she then put it between the front door and gate of her house.
Within a few minutes, while she was still on the phone with the man from “China Interpol,” the money was taken.
Mr Giam was given a written answer by Dr Tan See Leng, the Manpower Minister, which the WP MP published on his blog.
Dr Tan said that while the CPF Board takes a serious view towards protecting members against scams, it recognizes at the same time that members should not be “unnecessarily inconvenience(d)… for the vast majority of transactions that are legitimate.”
This is the reason no daily withdrawal limits or thresholds are in place.
He added, however, that payments are only paid to the bank account of a member after verification is made.
Dr Tan also listed the measures the CPF Board has implemented against illegitimate transactions, which include authentication of the person’s identity and notification via email.
He wrote that identity authentication is carried out “by verifying against the member’s identification card for face-to-face requests or through the use of Singpass two-factor authentication for online requests.”
And then, after these two steps, the CPF Board verifies the member’s bank account.
Dr Tan also underlined that “Citizen vigilance is imperative in the fight against scams” and urged members to take precautions against them when they receive unsolicited calls and desist from giving away their Singpass or internet banking credentials. /TISG
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