Police get powers to order banks, telcos to share info, disable scam accounts after new law passed

MP Jackson Lam (PAP-Nee Soon) said there needs to be a fast review process for genuine cases where an account has been wrongly disabled.

While the Bill provides an appeal mechanism, there must be a “clear channel” for affected persons to provide evidence quickly and have their accounts reviewed.

“The principle should be simple: act fast against scammers, but correct mistakes just as fast when innocent people are affected,” he added.

MP Gabriel Lam (PAP-Sembawang) said that once there is no longer a risk, access to a wrongly affected account should be restored in hours, not days.

Mr Goh said that while a “swift and decisive approach” to disrupting scam networks is necessary to protect Singaporeans, the authorities recognise that some individuals may genuinely require and depend on these accounts for their livelihood or daily expenses.

It is vital that authorities assess appeals fairly and as quickly as possible. More details on the appeal mechanism and timeline will be shared in due course, he said.

“This needs careful consideration, as we have seen cases of scammers coaching victims on what to say to bank staff to evade detection when they transfer money to the scammer,” Mr Goh said.

“We should similarly expect scammers to coach mules to file a successful appeal to regain access to their accounts.”