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Singapore's CPF Board to cap daily withdrawal at S$2,000 by default, helping to protect members from scams
CPF Board said that the default daily withdrawal limit can be adjusted to any amount, from S$0 up to S$200,000, at any time online.
SINGAPORE — Starting 30 November 2023, the Central Provident Fund (CPF) default online withdrawal will be limited to S$2,000 a day for all members aged 55 and older, CPF board announced on Monday (20 November).
The move is part of a new set of security measures implemented by the CPF Board to better protect members from scams.
Announcing this in a statement, CPF Board said that the default daily withdrawal limit can be adjusted to any amount, from S$0 up to S$200,000, at any time online. However, to prevent unauthorised adjustments, CPF said that any increases to the daily withdrawal limit will be subject to Singpass Face Verification (SFV) and a 12-hour cooling period.
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With the above change, CPF members who wish to disable online withdrawals can do so by activating the CPF Withdrawal Lock which instantly sets the daily withdrawal limit to S$0.
With the lock activated, CPF withdrawals can only be made in person at CPF Service Centres. To re-enable online withdrawals, members must increase the daily withdrawal limit. This requires SFV authentication and 12 hours to take effect.
"Introducing a default daily limit for online CPF withdrawals is part of CPF Board's ongoing efforts to safeguard CPF savings against fraudulent withdrawals online. This is on top of our existing precautionary measures, which include SFV as a step-up authentication challenge for certain CPF e-services," CPF Board said.
CPF savings, the Board added, can only be paid to bank accounts that are verified as belonging to the members. Members will also be notified immediately of any CPF withdrawals.
CPF precautionary measures
SFV and the 12-hour cooling period will also apply when members update their contact details from 30 November 2023.
By end December 2023, changes to bank account details will also be subject to SFV. New bank accounts will only be activated after the bank confirms that the account belongs to the member. This will take up to two working days.
CPF members will be notified via SMS or email whenever they make withdrawal, update the daily limit, or update their contact details. Therefore they must update their contact details online before updating those.
CPF Board also advised all members to take precautionary measures and stay up to date with the latest scam tactics.
"If members suspect that they have fallen prey to a scam involving their CPF savings, they should contact CPF Board, in addition to getting their bank to immediately freeze their bank accounts, resetting their Singpass password and setting their CPF daily withdrawal limit to $0. They should also make a police report immediately," CPF Board said.
CPF members can find out more about these precautionary measures via the CPF website from 30 November 2023. For those who require assistance, they can contact CPF Board at cpf.gov.sg/contact-us.
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