In a remarkable display of dedication and quick thinking, a pregnant bank employee in Singapore, Fionice Teoh, helped prevent a 70-year-old woman from losing over $200,000 to a scam. The incident occurred on December 24, 2024, when the woman, who was being coached by a scammer over the phone, attempted to withdraw $190,000 in cash from a DBS bank branch. Teoh, who was 38 weeks pregnant and on one of her final shifts before maternity leave, suspected that the woman was a scam victim and alerted the bank’s anti-scam team.<\/p>\n
Despite being verbally abused by the woman for almost two hours, Teoh remained calm and professional, reminding herself that her job was not just about transactions, but also about protecting vulnerable customers. The woman’s behavior raised several red flags, including her agitation, inconsistent stories, and refusal to make eye contact. Teoh suggested that the woman return the next day, buying time for the bank’s anti-scam team and the authorities to intervene.<\/p>\n
Deputy Superintendent Benedict Ng from the police’s Anti-Scam Centre visited the woman’s home that night and discovered that she had already withdrawn $12,000 from another branch and was about to hand it over to the scammers. The scammers had convinced her that they were banking personnel and law enforcement officers, and that they needed to examine her cash as part of a money laundering investigation. Ng spent about an hour convincing the woman that she was a victim of a scam, and she was eventually relieved to learn the truth.<\/p>\n
The incident highlights the importance of vigilance and quick action in preventing scams. Teoh and Ng’s efforts helped the woman avoid losing her life savings, and she later returned to the bank to thank them with a bag of chocolates. The case also underscores the need for the public to be aware of the dangers of scams and to take steps to protect themselves, such as using security features like the ScamShield app and verifying the identity of callers or senders.<\/p>\n
In Singapore, scams have resulted in losses of over $4 billion since 2020, with government official impersonation scams being a common type of scam. Laws have been passed to cane scammers, with a maximum of 24 strokes depending on the severity of the offence. Banks and financial institutions are also working to strengthen their defenses and enhance their security tools to empower customers to bank safely and with confidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a remarkable display of dedication and quick thinking, a pregnant bank employee in Singapore, Fionice Teoh, helped prevent a 70-year-old woman from losing over $200,000 to a scam. The incident occurred on December 24, 2024, when the woman, who was being coached by a scammer over the phone, attempted to withdraw $190,000 in cash […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":219543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dbs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/02\/DBS.jpg?fit=466%2C450&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9pSib-VS3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":222461,"url":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/dbs\/a-senior-citizen-berated-a-pregnant-dbs-staff-member-who-was-trying-to-safeguard-her-finances-from-a-potential-scam\/","url_meta":{"origin":222459,"position":0},"title":"A senior citizen berated a pregnant DBS staff member who was trying to safeguard her finances from a potential scam.","author":"Team Small News","date":"December 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A remarkable story of vigilance and dedication to protecting vulnerable individuals from scams has emerged from Singapore. On December 24, 2024, a 70-year-old woman visited the DBS Century Square branch, demanding to withdraw $190,000 in cash. The woman, who was being coached by a scammer over the phone, became agitated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DBS"","block_context":{"text":"DBS","link":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/category\/dbs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/02\/DBS.jpg?fit=466%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":222463,"url":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/dbs\/albatross-file-expose-malaysia-and-singapore-engage-in-heated-power-struggle-quick-thinking-pregnant-dbs-banker-thwarts-200000-scam-amidst-verbal-abuse-from-victim-latest-singapore-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":222459,"position":1},"title":"Albatross File Expos\u00e9: Malaysia and Singapore Engage in Heated Power Struggle; Quick-Thinking Pregnant DBS Banker Thwarts $200,000 Scam Amidst Verbal Abuse from Victim, Latest Singapore News","author":"Team Small News","date":"December 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Singapore is facing a scam epidemic, with billions of dollars lost since 2020. However, there are frontline heroes who are fighting against these scams and protecting vulnerable customers. One such hero is Fionice Teoh, a pregnant DBS banker who foiled a $200,000 scam. Teoh, who was 38 weeks pregnant at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DBS"","block_context":{"text":"DBS","link":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/category\/dbs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/02\/DBS.jpg?fit=466%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":222587,"url":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/dbs\/karen-ngui-is-stepping-down-from-her-position-as-head-of-group-strategic-marketing-and-communications-at-dbs-bank\/","url_meta":{"origin":222459,"position":2},"title":"Karen Ngui is stepping down from her position as Head of Group Strategic Marketing and Communications at DBS Bank.","author":"Team Small News","date":"January 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Karen Ngui, the Head of Group Strategic Marketing & Communications at DBS Bank, has announced that she will be leaving her role. Ngui has been a key figure in shaping the bank's marketing and communications strategy, and her departure is likely to be felt across the industry. During her tenure,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DBS"","block_context":{"text":"DBS","link":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/category\/dbs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/02\/DBS.jpg?fit=466%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallnews.in\/banking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}