SINGAPORE: The total number of banking-related phishing scams increased by more than 2,500 per cent in the first half of this year to 898 cases, compared to 34 cases in the same period in 2019, said the police on Wednesday (Aug 26). Banking-related phishing scams recorded the fourth-highest number of reported cases among all scam types, and the total amount cheated increased from S$93,000 to S$3.6 million. READ: Crime up more than 11% in first half of 2020, mainly due to rise in scam cases READ: More than S$21.2 million recovered by police’s anti-scam centre in first year of operations Police highlighted an incident in January when a victim was cheated of S$506,000, making it the largest sum cheated in a single case in the first half of this year. The victim had provided his one-time passwords (OTPs) to scammers who claimed to be employees from local banks, said the police. The scammers told the victim that his accounts have been hacked and they needed his OTPs to disable his bank accounts. “In the majority of these cases, victims were tricked into disclosing Internet banking usernames, personal identification numbers (PIN) and OTPs to scammers posing as bank staff,” said the police in a news release. Police warned that…