New fraud surveillance measures aim to protect consumers from unauthorized transactions and phishing scams.
In response to growing concerns over phishing scams and rapidly drained accounts, Singapore’s financial institutions will implement real-time fraud detection systems by mid-2025. These measures are part of the Shared Responsibility Framework (SRF), which aims to reduce scam-related financial losses by ensuring that banks can identify and block unauthorized transactions swiftly.
Under the new guidelines, banks will be required to detect transactions that drain significant amounts from accounts, especially those exceeding half of a balance of $50,000 in a single day. If such transactions are flagged, banks must either block them until confirmation is received from the customer or notify the customer and hold the transaction for 24 hours. Failure to comply will result in the bank reimbursing the victim in full.
This framework also outlines responsibilities for both financial institutions and telecommunications companies, with banks now tasked with implementing stronger fraud surveillance measures. These include real-time alerts for suspicious activities and a 12-hour cooling-off period for activating digital security tokens.
The SRF, initially proposed in 2023, was developed following extensive public consultation. It also includes enhanced protection for vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, and strengthens security standards for both digital banking and telco infrastructures. Furthermore, the regulations seek to remove potentially dangerous clickable links from SMS messages, with banks phasing out such links to improve security.
By mid-2025, these new fraud detection measures will be mandatory, and banks that fail to implement them will be held accountable for the losses incurred by scam victims.
