OCBC pays back $13.7mn to scam victims, institutes new reforms

In what is hopefully the end to a very long and painful saga, OCBC announced that it had paid out more than $13.7 million in “goodwill payouts” to nearly 800 customers who lost money due to phishing scams.

More than 80% of the $13.7million was lost during the final week of 2021, when the number of calls made to OCBC’s contact centre surged by over 40%.

OCBC has committed to ensuring that customer’s funds remain safe and will improve its customer service and response. It also introduced new security measures, such as removing clickable links from marketing emails and SMSes, and reducing the default daily limit for Paynow transactions.

These measures were in line with the new requirements that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) announced two weeks ago.