Some information of 1,166 UOB’s customers who are China nationals has been disclosed as a result of an impersonation scam. The information comprised the customer names, identification and mobile numbers and account balances (e.g., amount or more or less than a certain sum). Their bank account numbers were not disclosed and our IT systems remain secure.
Preliminary findings show that a UOB employee had allegedly fallen prey to a China police impersonation scam and had been deceived into disclosing the information of these Chinese nationals with Singapore-based accounts.
UOB is working closely with the Singapore Police Force on their investigations. We apologise to our customers that this has happened as we have always made it a priority to keep their data secure.
We have written to all affected customers and have taken several precautionary measures to protect them as they may be targeted by scammers. These measures include:
• immediately disabling their internet and mobile banking access;
• advising them on resetting their digital banking access and how to protect themselves from scams;
• stepping up account monitoring of affected accounts;
• setting an SMS alert threshold of $1 for any online funds transfers;
• posting scam protection notices on the login pages of UOB Personal Internet Banking and UOB Mighty; and
• posting a public education notice on our social media channels.
We expect the highest standards of professional conduct from our people at all times as part of maintaining the trust our customers place in us. The employee involved in this matter has been suspended and is assisting the police with their investigations.
We are very sorry that our customers have been placed in this position. We will continue to make every effort to work with them on keeping their accounts safe.
