SINGAPORE, Dec 7 — A heavily pregnant bank employee in Singapore helped prevent a customer from losing more than S$200,000 (RM635,000) to scammers after intervening during a tense encounter at a DBS branch late last year. 

The incident, reported by The Straits Times (ST), unfolded just days before the staff member went on maternity leave.

The bank said it suspected the woman was being manipulated by criminals, prompting staff to delay the withdrawal and alert authorities.

“This is my money, how can you control and not let me withdraw? If you don’t let me withdraw everything, I’ll close all my accounts,” the woman reportedly shouted in the branch. 

Fionice Teoh later recalled: “I kept reminding myself to stay calm. It would have been easier to just let her withdraw everything. But my job isn’t just about transactions. It’s about protecting people.”

According to the report, the woman in her 70s had arrived at the Century Square branch on December 24, 2024 requesting to withdraw S$190,000 in cash. 

Teoh, then 38 weeks pregnant, noticed she was on the phone throughout the interaction and appeared to be following instructions from someone not present.

The customer initially claimed the money was for festive purchases before changing her explanation to an investment. She also insisted on receiving the funds in cash. 

Her behaviour raised red flags, leading Teoh to alert the bank’s anti scam team and persuade the woman to return the following day, buying time for police to intervene.

That night, officers from the Anti Scam Centre visited the woman’s home and discovered she had earlier withdrawn S$12,000 from another branch and was preparing to hand it to scammers. 

Deputy Superintendent Benedict Ng told ST: “The scammers who contacted her claimed to be banking personnel and law enforcement officers, and convinced her they needed to examine her cash as part of a money laundering investigation.”

The woman had been reporting her whereabouts to the criminals several times a day and initially believed DSP Ng was also a scammer. It took him about an hour to convince her she was being deceived.

She later returned to the branch with chocolates to thank the staff. 

Singapore has recorded about S$4 billion in scam losses since 2020. 

In 2024 alone, 1,504 cases of government official impersonation scams were reported, with losses amounting to S$151.3 million. 

New laws now allow for caning of convicted scammers, with up to 24 strokes depending on the offence.