Insurance Policy Maturity Scam *Fake Monetary Authority of Singapore Staff Apply Pressure, Uncle Loses $100,000 in Three Days*

Insurance Policy Maturity Scam

*Fake Monetary Authority of Singapore Staff Apply Pressure, Uncle Loses $100,000 in Three Days*

Translated by ChatGPT 

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https://e-paper.sph.com.sg/ccidist-ws/sph/sm/issues/10229/OPS/GIOMGHIJ.1%2BGDTMRCHA.1.html?rev=2025-11-24T13%3A41%3A23%2B08%3A00

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Shin Min Daily News

2025-11-24

First they falsely claimed that an insurance policy was about to mature to “bait the hook,” then they applied pressure using the identity of an “official.” The uncle fell into the scam, transferred money for three consecutive days, and lost more than $100,000. His family helped him file a police report.

Mr Zhang (67, pseudonym) told reporters that on the 21st of last month, he saw a missed call on his mobile phone. When he returned the call, the other party told him that the insurance policy he had signed was about to mature, which greatly surprised him.

“The other party said the monthly premium was $780 for two years and asked if I wanted to renew the policy.”

At that time, Mr Zhang rejected the policy. The other party then said that someone from the Monetary Authority would contact him. Not long after, a person claiming to be from MAS contacted Mr Zhang and said his bank account had been stolen.

“The other party even showed his work pass. I actually don’t have an account with that particular bank, but at the time I didn’t suspect anything.”

Mr Zhang revealed that the “MAS officer” instructed him to download a cryptocurrency wallet app. During the process, he also asked to conduct a WhatsApp video call and to enable screen sharing.

“I even raised my bank account transfer limit as instructed. The other party said that whenever a large amount was transferred, I would receive a call from the bank, and said that four to five days after the transfer, the money would be returned in full. In the end, I transferred the first sum of $31,740 to a Standard Chartered Bank account.”

After raising the transfer limit, Mr Zhang felt uneasy and even removed his SIM card before he could fall asleep.

Unexpectedly, under some strange impulse, Mr Zhang reinserted the SIM card afterward and, over the next two days, continued to follow the instructions. He made five more transactions and transferred more than $70,000 to the bank accounts designated by the other party.

“The other party also stressed that transferring the money was to protect my bank account.”

In total, Mr Zhang lost about $104,620. After realizing he had been scammed, because he had already planned a trip, he and his wife flew to Japan on the night of the 23rd of last month to meet their son.

“The trip had already been booked. After I arrived in Japan, I told my children what happened. My daughter, who was in Singapore at the time, helped me make a police report, and my son later followed up with the police.”

When contacted, the police confirmed that a report had been lodged.

Only After Transferring the Money Did He Call 1799 for Help

Too Late to Stop the Loss

It was only on the third day that the uncle called the 1799 helpline for assistance, but it was already too late.

Mr Zhang said that after transferring the money as instructed, he asked the other party about the progress, but received vague answers.

“The more I thought about it, the more wrong it felt. I messaged the other party on WhatsApp asking for the money back, and he told me to wait. After that, I decided to call 1799.”

Mr Zhang said that when he called the anti-scam hotline 1799, the operator described an identical “script” of the scam, which shocked him greatly. With their assistance, he later froze his bank account.

He added that he regretted not waking up to the situation earlier, which would have prevented further losses.

Uncle’s Retirement Plans Disrupted

The uncle originally planned to retire within a year or two, but his plans have now been disrupted.

He said that after working for many years, he had intended to retire in a year or two, but now he must re-plan.

He hopes that by sharing his experience, he can remind others not to share screens with strangers and not to answer any unknown calls. “Later I realized that the request for screen sharing was probably to check whether I used online banking, making it easier for them to scam me.”

Report by Li Gaole

Photography by Pan Fengyuan

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