Money Lock feature: Keeping your money out of scammers’ reach

Practising cyber hygiene is vital to avoid getting scammed. To guard against scammers, consider “locking up” a portion of the money in your bank accounts.  

The “locked-up” amount cannot be transferred out digitally by anyone, acting as a last line of defence against scammers who try to gain access to your accounts, such as through malware attacks. If you want access to the “locked-up” amount, you may need to visit a bank branch or ATM, depending on the bank.

There may be processing time for unlocking these funds. You should therefore think carefully about how much you should lock. Take stock of your recurring expenses and near-term needs before making your decision.

How it works 

Let’s say you have $5,000 in your bank account but only need $1,000 for your day-to-day or regular expenses. You may “lock up” $4,000, leaving $1,000 that you can easily access for daily expenses such as payments through PayNow, GIRO, NETS and ATM withdrawals.  

Should scammers gain access to your account, the most they can access is the $1,000. They will not be able to spend or transfer out the $4,000 that has been “locked-up”. 

Please visit your bank's website for instructions on how to set up the feature.

Safeguarding your CPF savings

If you are a CPF member aged 55 or older and do not intend to withdraw your CPF savings anytime soon, you are encouraged to safeguard your CPF savings by activating the CPF Withdrawal Lock which disables online CPF withdrawals. You can easily activate the CPF Withdrawal Lock at any time online under the CPF account settings after logging on to the CPF website using your Singpass.

When you need to make online CPF withdrawals, you can re-enable online withdrawals by increasing the online Daily Withdrawal Limit via the CPF account settings. For your security, this will be subject to enhanced authentication measures and a 12-hour cooling period. Members who do not wish to enable online withdrawals can make an appointment to withdraw in-person at CPF Service Centres.

Click here to find out more on CPFB's anti-scam measures.

For information on other scams and how to safeguard yourself against them, you may visit scamshield.gov.sg.