Transcription
There’ll be YET another new measure to stop scammers from scamming you of your hard-earned money, and this time, it will inconvenience some of us. But maybe not YOU~ Watch on to know more about it, if not you might suddenly find yourself stuck while trying to transfer money! So, so, So I aM NevEr ScaMmed CoZ I No MoneY~
If you’re someone who has not been scammed, you likely didn’t know the gravity of the issue.
The Hard Approach to Stop Scams
Scams are becoming so common that whenever I go to a bank, I’d have overheard that at least one of the seniors there was there because he or she just got scammed, and did not know what to do. It’s so common that You look young. Why are you in a bank? Did you watch my old videos? I want to marry a DBS teller because DBS tellers are pretty so I am investing my time instead of money in bank Duck, you get the idea: just in the first half of 2025 alone, Singapore saw $456.4 million lost to scams, and these are scams that were reported. I am very certain the number is higher as some people might not have reported the scams.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that we’re seeing anti-scam posters, social media posts and even idiotic blue cat videos educating others about scams. Education is a soft approach, which might not work, and the banks have to do the hard approaches. For example, you’d realise you cannot transfer money to a new payee if you just added him or her into your bank app; you’d need to wait for 12 hours. This is a security feature to We can just PayNow immediately, so what’s the Duck, these are security measures that inconvenience us, but it can stop a scammer from emptying our bank accounts if our phones are compromised.
There are many other ways banks, or even CPF board, did to stop scammers from emptying our bank account, which sometimes inconveniences us. And from 15 October 2025 onwards, there’s yet another of this measure.
Cannot Transfer Half of Your Bank Account Balance Out
From 15 October 2025, banks might reject, or hold, the transfer of funds if you transfer over half of what you have in your bank. For example, if you have $200,000 in your bank, and you want to transfer $120,000 to your friend, you cannot, as half of $200,000 is $100,000. And we’re not talking about one transfer or withdrawal. It’s a daily limit, so if you have $200,000 in your bank account, from 15 October 2025, the maximum you can transfer out in 24 hours is $100,000, even if you do it in multiple transactions. Any amount above the 50% limit will be either held for 24 hours, or even rejected.
Major retail banks like DBS, OCBC, UOB, Citibank, HSBC, Maybank and Standard Chartered will implement the safeguard to all current and savings accounts, including joint accounts. It’s, however, only for transfers made through bank apps and internet banking, so non-digital transaction such as cash withdrawals at bank branches and ATMs will not be affected. The Association of Banks advised customers "to plan time-sensitive banking transactions (for example, for share purchases) in advance to avoid incurring fees and charges due to any delay."
Now, here’s the thing: this won’t affect me. And maybe you, too. This is only valid for bank accounts with over $50,000, so if you think the banks are going to hold your $2 transfer just because you have $3 in your bank account, you can wait long long. Duck, even banks also judge us…
Anyways, even if you’ve made the transfer and it was held for 24 hours, you can cancel the held transfer if you want to.
Cancelling Held Transfers
For example, if you’ve $100,000 in your bank, and you just transferred $50,000 to your wife because she wants a new Gucci bag. You have now hit your limit. Then you see a new PS5 game, and want to spend $50 on it, but if you try to transfer the $50, it will be held for 24 hours before it could be transferred. During the 24 hours, you can cancel the $50 you spent, since it has technically not been approved. BUT~ If you really need to release the $50 funds, you might be able to do so in an ATM, depending on the banks. Just check with your banks.
Nevertheless, banks suggest you to plan your transaction well if you know when you need to do a large transaction. And here’s the thing: more measures might be rolled out in the coming months. If you still don’t think they are useful and scams would not affect you, watch this video on how Ah Beng scammers are calling people and losing their tempers. Also, follow me on Instagram if you’ve not done so, as we’ll publish exclusive short videos there. Link in description. And if you want to advertise with us, even as a stand-alone video, do contact us. Thank you for spending almost four minutes with me. I really appreciate it, and hope you learn something.