SINGAPORE – Over the next two weeks, banks in Singapore will remove clickable links from emails and SMS messages sent to retail customers and take other additional measures in light of the recent spate of phishing scams.

The announcement by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on Wednesday (January 19) came after OCBC Bank customers recently lost millions to phishing scams.

A total of 469 victims have fallen victim to SMS phishing scams involving OCBC since December 1, with reported losses amounting to at least S$8.5 million, police said on December 30. The bank had begun making “goodwill payouts” to affected customers.

DBS also warned customers about an SMS phishing scam in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

In a separate statement, DBS said that from Friday it would only send “important SMS” without clickable links to its customers, including security and trading notifications and OTP authentication.

Other measures announced by MAS and ABS include setting the threshold for notifications to customers about remittance transactions to US$100 or less by default, a delay of at least 12 hours before activating a new soft token on a mobile device, notification of existing mobile phone numbers or email addresses registered with the bank of any request to change such customer data, and a cooling-off period before implementing requests for changes to key accounts such as contact details.

Customers are also urged to be vigilant to avoid falling for online banking scams, MAS and ABS said. Precautions include never clicking on links in SMS or emails, sharing internet banking credentials or passwords with others, and verifying SMS or emails received. They should also ensure they are on the bank’s official website before making transactions or conduct transactions through the official mobile application.

Banks will continue to work closely with MAS, the police and the Infocomm Media Development Authority to combat fraud, including working on further solutions to combat SMS spoofing and increasing oversight of the industry’s fraud monitoring mechanisms.

MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon said: “MAS is deeply concerned about the recent spate of scams and the financial losses suffered by victims. The threat of scams will not disappear, but we can reduce our vulnerabilities… We will ensure that digital banking remains safe, efficient and trustworthy.”

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