CPF online withdrawal limit to be lowered from S$200,000 to S$50,000 a day to guard against scams

SINGAPORE: The maximum amount of money that can be withdrawn online from Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts will be lowered to S$50,000 (US$38,200) per day from Sep 25.
The maximum online withdrawal limit is currently S$200,000 per day. Lowering it provides greater deterrence to scammers and can help to “limit the potential losses” in a scam, the CPF Board said on Thursday (Aug 22).
Other current anti-scam measures include a default daily withdrawal limit of S$2,000 and enhanced authentication. There is also a 12-hour cooling period when updating contact and bank account details, as well as increasing withdrawal limits.
A total of 26,587 scam cases were reported in the first half of this year, according to data released by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Thursday. That compares with 22,853 cases in the same period last year.
The total amount lost increased from S$309.4 million in the first six months of 2023 to S$385.6 million in the same period this year.
Fewer than 0.1 per cent of the scam cases involved CPF withdrawals. But in most of the cases where CPF withdrawals were involved, members raised their daily limit above the default S$2,000 before making an online withdrawal.
“While the withdrawals were all authorised by the victims, the impact on the victims can be significant, particularly if they had increased their (daily withdrawal limit) to make larger online withdrawals,” the CPF Board said in a press release.
The police said that 86 per cent of the total reported scams involved mostly self-effected transfers, which may be a result of deception and social engineering.
“In most of these cases, scammers did not gain direct control of victims’ accounts, but manipulated victims into directly performing the monetary transactions,” added the police.
The vast majority of CPF members’ withdrawal limits have been set at S$50,000 or lower since the default daily limit of S$2,000 was introduced in November last year.
Lowering the daily withdrawal limit will not inconvenience most of the members making legitimate withdrawals, said the board.
CPF members whose daily withdrawal limits have been set at above S$50,000 will be notified in advance that their limit will be automatically lowered on Sep 25.
“As scams continue to evolve, our safeguards must continuously be adjusted to ensure efficacy,” the CPF Board said.
“While lowering the maximum (daily withdrawal limit) may cause inconvenience to some, we seek CPF members’ understanding that this move aims to better protect them against scams.”
From Sep 25, members who want to make large withdrawals online are encouraged to plan ahead as they will need to withdraw their money over a few days.
Alternatively, the full amount can be withdrawn in person at CPF Service Centres.
“Generally, the next available appointment would be in a week’s time, and members will receive their withdrawn CPF savings in their bank account registered with us typically within five working days,” said the board.
The amount that each member aged 55 and older can withdraw remains unchanged – it depends on the member’s year of birth and the balances in the CPF account.