Singapore gives you one number to call and one button that actually stops money moving, and they are not the same thing. Knowing which is which, in the first few minutes, is most of what determines how this ends.
The Kill Switch, then 1799
Every major bank in Singapore now has a kill switch inside its own app: one action that freezes all your current and savings accounts, including joint ones, and blocks PayNow, FAST, GIRO, telegraphic transfers, bill payments, standing instructions, card transactions and ATM withdrawals. If you think your credentials are compromised, use that first. It is the only instant action available to you.
Then call the ScamShield helpline on 1799, free and around the clock. It gives advice and can transfer you straight through to the anti-scam teams at seven banks. Be clear about what it cannot do: it cannot file a police report for you, and it cannot give you updates about a frozen account.
The police report is separate
File it yourself at police.gov.sg under E-Services, or call 1800-255-0000. Use 999 if it is an emergency. Note that I-Witness, which looks like a reporting channel, is for passing on information and is explicitly not a police report — you will not be updated on the outcome.
The police are unusually honest about the odds on their own website: once the money has left Singapore, the chance of recovering it is very low. Money that is seized is returned at the end of investigations, not when you report.
The Shared Responsibility Framework is narrower than you think
Since 16 December 2024, banks and telcos can be made to bear a scam loss under the Shared Responsibility Framework. It is a real protection, and it is far narrower than most people believe.
It covers one shape of scam only: someone impersonates a business or government body, contacts you on a messaging platform, gets you to enter your banking credentials on a fake site or app, and then uses those credentials to make transactions you did not intend. All four of those have to be true.
That means it does not cover investment scams, romance scams, job scams, e-commerce scams, or any case where you made the transfer yourself. It also excludes credit, charge and debit cards issued in Singapore. If your loss is one of those, the framework is not your route.
Where it does apply, there is a waterfall: the bank pays if it failed one of its duties; if not, the telco pays if it failed one of its; if neither did, the loss stays with you. Two deadlines matter. Report to your bank as soon as you can and in any case within 30 calendar days of its alert, then supply your documents — police report, the message trail — within three days. The bank has 21 business days for a straightforward case, 45 for a complex one.
If you disagree with the outcome, FIDReC handles disputes with the bank, free for consumers, and complaints about a telco go to IMDA.
Restriction Orders, and what they are for
Under the Protection from Scams Act, in force since 1 July 2025, police can order a bank to stop someone transferring money while they are being scammed. It is designed to protect a person mid-scam, usually one who does not believe their family, and it does not refund anyone. It is also rare: as of February 2026, twelve had ever been issued.
If your own account gets frozen
This happens to people who received scam money and passed it on, sometimes without knowing. The helpline cannot help you here. The route is a court application under the Criminal Procedure Code to release funds for basic living costs — rent or mortgage, food, medicine, utilities, taxes and insurance. Get advice early rather than waiting it out.
What to have ready
The date and time, how they contacted you, the full web address from your browser history, the phone number as one unbroken string, whether it was a normal call or WhatsApp, Telegram or Viber, screenshots, receipts, your bank’s transaction records, and the reference number of any report you have already made.
Two local notes
Government official impersonation is the largest loss category in Singapore, and ScamShield warns that scammers come back a second time posing as authorities offering to help. No agency will ever call you to recover your money for a fee.
And if you are looking for scamalert.sg, it now redirects to ScamShield — the two services merged.
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