Digital banks now account for a rising slice of rip-off and fraud complaints in Singapore, at the same time as conventional banks proceed to face related dangers.
Recent figures supplied to The Straits Occasions by the Monetary Business Disputes Decision Centre (FIDReC) present that online-only lenders are dealing with extra instances as prospects fall sufferer to Compromised Credentials and Impersonation Scams.
FIDReC obtained 94 rip-off and fraud claims involving the 5 licensed digital banks from January to August 2025, already greater than double the 42 instances recorded in all of 2024.
Losses for the eight-month interval reached S$2.5 million.
The affected establishments are Belief Financial institution, GXS Financial institution and MariBank, which serve retail prospects, in addition to ANEXT Financial institution and Inexperienced Hyperlink Digital Financial institution, which concentrate on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
Whereas digital financial institution disputes stay a minority inside the broader monetary sector, their share is rising.
Such claims accounted for two.1 p.c of all industrywide complaints in 2023 and 4.8 p.c in 2024, climbing to eight.7 p.c as on the finish of August 2025.
FIDReC famous that scams made up 84 p.c of digital financial institution instances, with service requirements comprising 11 p.c and practices or insurance policies representing 5 p.c.
AI-driven scams are getting tougher to identify
Business analysts advised The Straits Occasions that digital banks rely completely on apps and web sites, creating extra alternatives for scammers to strike with phishing hyperlinks, malware or fabricated messages.
They added that conventional banks face related publicity since most transactions now happen on-line.
Many victims are focused when they’re distracted or underneath stress, and the rising use of synthetic intelligence and deepfakes has made impersonation makes an attempt much more convincing.
The sector has expanded its safeguards in response. Below the Shared Duty Framework, banks, telcos and prospects every have outlined obligations to scale back rip-off losses, and the authorities can limit transactions underneath the Safety from Scams Act if they think lively fraud.
One other safeguard launched on October 15 permits banks to delay transfers when accounts with not less than S$50,000 in deposits expertise steep outflows.
If greater than half the stability strikes out inside a day, subsequent transfers could also be held for twenty-four hours or blocked.
Digital banks have launched extra controls. They use real-time monitoring programs, round the clock help and alerts that disrupt high-risk transactions.
Some immediate prospects to confirm unfamiliar recipients, whereas others supply fund-locking options that forestall giant withdrawals with out additional checks.
Their newer expertise stacks additionally allow sooner deployment of countermeasures as rip-off patterns evolve.
Banks and police ramp up joint response
Prospects stay a crucial line of defence. Banks urge customers to keep away from unfamiliar hyperlinks, confirm anybody requesting monetary info and notify their financial institution instantly in the event that they detect transactions they didn’t authorise.
Business teams additionally emphasise the necessity for stronger sharing of fraud intelligence throughout establishments to assist spot rising threats early.
Collaboration has intensified on the Singapore Police Pressure’s Anti-Rip-off Centre, the place seven banks now station workers to help speedy account-freezing and fund-recovery operations.
The collaborating establishments are DBS Financial institution, OCBC Financial institution, UOB, Commonplace Chartered Financial institution, HSBC, CIMB and GXS Financial institution, which joined the trouble earlier this 12 months.
Featured picture: Edited by Fintech Information Singapore, based mostly on picture by user6724086 by way of Freepik
