Singapore Expats

Hi
I was recently a victim of online scam whereby i transferred money to a person who was pretending to be a law enforcement person
post i realized i was scammed, i reported this to police however was surprised that IO has frozen my account which my bank informed me . Only realised since i was not able to login and after multiple follow-up came to know about it. Is it normal that a victim account is frozen till investigation is going on?

Be damn glad that they. Obviously you weren't smart enough to call the bank and ask them to freeze it as soon as you knew you had be scammed. They are just trying to keep you from losing more money to the scammers.

understand my mistake can i still check if its normal for victim bank account to be frozen like this?

Don't you think calling either the Bank or Police post would make a bit more sense? We are neither.

dont think you have read my post properly. I called bank and reported it while i also called police myself and informed it. I was confused why my account has been frozen. I am just asking people here if anyone has gone through online scam reporting experience. Would love to hear what usually happens

You need to contact your bank to find out.

Even if someone has gone through a similar experience, bank policies can vary.

Did your account get frozen after you reported the scam to the police? or was it before?

mistique2020 wrote: ↑

Thu, 01 Sep 2022 11:41 pm

dont think you have read my post properly. I called bank and reported it while i also called police myself and informed it. I was confused why my account has been frozen. I am just asking people here if anyone has gone through online scam reporting experience. Would love to hear what usually happens

Actually your English is not clear so don't blame people if they misunderstand you.

It's common for accounts to be frozen like this during these investigations as you said by the IO {investigating officer} or if the bank has detected fraud. It may never be unlocked or take a long time to be unlocked. You'll need a new bank account. The police need to unwind the entire mess along with the bank to work out who is the legitimate owner of the funds.

Here’s a more natural version that feels personal instead of promotional:

I usually don’t talk about this kind of thing because honestly still quite hard for me to process. Last year I got caught in a crypto scam and it really messed me up emotionally. Not even just the money — the shame and stress was the worst part.

For a long time I kept everything to myself because I thought people would just judge or laugh at me. Sometimes when scam victims speak up online, people act like we deserve it.

Some time later I came across a small victim community online called <redacted> I mostly just read other people’s stories at first. Seeing others go through the same thing made me feel less alone and less afraid to talk about it.

Still recovering slowly, but yeah… one step at a time lah.

I am approving this post but without the reference because even the FBI can't trace Blockchains. If it's impossible to tell if the website is legit, ie, of those other victims are really victims or scammers. My research says the latter.

Moderator

A few people close to me have been victims of scams, and from what I have seen, it’s very easy to get sucked in. Usually they exploit greed or take advantage of people’s sense of wanting to do the right thing or help others.

One golden rule that has worked for me is to always carry a “poverty mindset” — think about it, poor people don’t get targeted by scammers because it’s like trying to squeeze blood from a stone… once they determine you are a waste of time, they move on.

Usually, a simple “I don’t have any money” or “I only have $xx” works, but if needed you can take a step further and say “even my credit cards are frozen” just to make it clear that you have no possibility of getting your hands on any cash.

I’ve actually had to go that far with a professional scammer who had my personal information (like hotel room number, office address and phone, etc…) and I was concerned for my safety. I offered what “little” cash I had, which was less than $20, but he didn’t want less than $500.

The good thing about this method, the scammer usually leaves you alone without holding a grudge, which can be a factor depending on how dangerous they are. Always remember “if you ain’t got nothing, they can’t take nothin” — you control reality, and it can be whatever you want it to be.

But why are some people so trusting to strangers they hear on the phone? I don't get this..

abbby wrote: ↑

Sat, 23 May 2026 10:10 am

But why are some people so trusting to strangers they hear on the phone? I don't get this..

A deep seated need to make a connection, sometimes plain ole greed, talked into the chance to make a killing.

abbby wrote: ↑

Sat, 23 May 2026 10:10 am

But why are some people so trusting to strangers they hear on the phone? I don't get this..

The guy who tried to scam me while I was on a business trip in the Philippines did it this way. First, he called me in my hotel room and asked for me by name and pretended to be a colleague who was supposed to meet up but couldn’t and would call me later. I passed it off as a wrong number, but later that afternoon, the same guy calls my office.

Now, this guy was really smooth, spoke perfect English, and had all my information. At first I honestly didn’t know he was a scammer. But when I clarified who he was, he acted disappointed and said c’mon, you know… I’m an old Filipino colleague of yours. I thought of the only one I could think of, said that name, and he effusively said “yes! Yes, that’s me” — as soon as he said that I knew for sure it was a scam, because the name I gave had a totally different voice and demeanor.

However, since the guy knew where I was staying and where I worked, I was concerned about my security and played along. Eventually, he brought things to a head told me he had a sister who was visiting and needed money for a weekend trip, he asked if he could borrow $500. I immediately reacted and said $500 was a LOT of money, I said I don’t have that kind of cash, but said I did have 500 pesos. I also told him my credit card was frozen because I hadn’t paid on time and couldn’t get access to any funds. As soon as I said that he immediately switched to try and get contacts of other foreigners in my office that could help, to which I said, sorry, I’m the only one. He finally ended the call and said he would meet me later in the evening.

Luckily he never showed or contacted me again. I accused the luxury 5-star hotel my company put me up in of leaking my information, which they (of course) denied.

Scammers use tried and tested scripts to part a person from their cash. Their success rate is low but the scheme is lucrative enough to be worth the effort. Some segments particularly the elderly are more susceptible to scams than others.

I receive many scam texts and calls that I automatically reject unknown numbers except landline local numbers.

My aged parents disabled their online banking out of fear of being scammed. It is an extreme reaction but maybe it is the right decision for them.