Doctor saved from losing $4m to scammers posing as govt officials

Bank blocks initial transfer and police call to warn her during her video call with a culprit

- Christine Tan

While seeing a patient, Dr L (not her real name) received a call from someone claiming to be a Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) officer working with the police.

The man told her she was in trouble with the authorities.

Following his instructions, Dr L, 36, wanted to transfer almost $4 million from her bank account to another account for "safekeeping", in what she thought was a secret anti-money laundering operation.

But as she was communicating with the fake official in a video call, a real policewoman called her to warn her that she was talking to scammers.

Confused, Dr L struggled to discern who was lying and who was telling the truth.

In a media interview arranged by the police on May 28 at Police Cantonment Complex, Dr L said the scammers were very convincing.

The general practitioner said: "I wasn't even second-guessing whether the person (fake cop) I was speaking to was really the police."

Thankfully, she trusted the legitimate authorities and did not lose any money.

On April 8, a man with a local accent claiming to be a bank officer called Dr L just as she started her shift at a private clinic.

She was not a client of the bank and was surprised to hear the man read the last four digits of her NRIC. He told her someone had used her identity to register a bank card.