Take-up Rate, Usage and Effectiveness of Anti-scam Safeguards Introduced by CPF Board
Ministry of ManpowerSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the take-up rate, usage, and effectiveness of anti-scam safeguards introduced by the Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB), raised by Assoc Prof Kenneth Goh to the Acting Minister for Manpower. In response, Ms Jasmin Lau outlined CPFB's multi-pronged protections, including universal measures like verified bank account crediting, mandatory cooling periods, and a default $2,000 daily online withdrawal limit. Tailored safeguards show that over 25,000 members have activated the CPF Withdrawal Lock to set a $0 limit, while nearly 5,000 active trusted contacts have been appointed, over 60% of which are by members above age 55. Additionally, about 60 members have activated the Safety Switch due to suspected unauthorised access, with none incurring any financial losses. Complemented by active member engagement, these safeguards have successfully minimised CPF losses from authorised withdrawals to less than 1% of overall scam losses nationwide.
Transcript
74 Assoc Prof Kenneth Goh asked the Acting Minister for Manpower (a) what has been the take-up rate and usage of the anti-scam safeguards introduced by CPF Board, including the (i) CPF Withdrawal Lock (ii) Trusted Contacts and (iii) CPF Safety Switch; and (b) whether CPF Board has assessed if these safeguards are reaching CPF members who are most at risk of scams.
Ms Jasmin Lau: The Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB) takes a multi-pronged approach to safeguard members' CPF savings from scams. For example, all CPF withdrawals are credited directly into registered bank accounts that have been verified to belong to the member. There are also authentication and mandatory cooling periods for important transactions, such as updating registered bank accounts. Besides these safeguards which apply to all members, CPFB also empowers members to tailor the level of security to their needs through tools, like the CPF withdrawal lock, trusted contact notification service, and safety switch.
Since launch in November 2023, over 25,000 members have activated the CPF withdrawal lock to set their daily online withdrawal limit to $0. Members who have not activated the withdrawal lock are subject to the default daily online withdrawal limit of $2,000.
There are almost 5,000 active trusted contact appointments since its launch in February 2026, of which over 60% are by members above the age of 55.
About 60 members have activated the safety switch since its launch in February 2026. The number is small as it is only meant to be activated if members suspect unauthorised access to their CPF accounts by scammers. None of the members have incurred any losses due to unauthorised access.
These safeguards are complemented by active engagement of members through multiple touchpoints to raise awareness of trending scam tactics and anti-scam measures. Together, these safeguards have proven effective in minimising CPF losses arising from authorised withdrawals to a very small proportion of less than 1% of overall scam losses nationwide.