The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said today (4 Feb) that recent goodwill payouts given by OCBC to cover their customers losses to scammers are only a one off, and the public should not expect the same gesture from them for future cases.
There were hundreds of customers who fell prey to these scams last month and the bank had said that all those affected will get full payouts.
The bank had considered that their customer services were not up to standard when they decided on these goodwill gestures.
Stronger security measures
Banks have strengthened their security measures to prevent more scams from happening and these include:
- Removing links in SMS phone messages or emails sent to customers
- Setting a default amount of S$100 or lower for funds transfer transaction notifications
- Downtime of at least 12 hours before the activating a new soft token on a mobile device.
MAS is also working with banks to progressively roll out new measures in the coming months.
There will also be loss sharing in cases such as scams.
Losses sharing
MAS has chaired a Payments Council to come up with a framework targets to provide clarification on how much should consumers and banks pay for losses through scams.
The frame work will mean that both parties will need to play their part to be vigilant to prevent scams, banks will need to do their part to protect their customers and customers also have to play their part to not fall prey to phishing links.
The party who did not do their part to be vigilant will have to bear more proportion in the losses.
MAS plans to release this framework for the public to air their views and concerns within the next three months.
Image source: Google Maps