SINGAPORE, Sept. 19 -- A healthcare company's chief financial officer nearly transferred S$120,000 (RM384,000) to scammers after they impersonated the firm's chairman and managing director on Microsoft Teams.

The attempted fraud came amid a sharp rise in business e-mail compromise scams in Singapore, with losses reaching S$57.3 million (RM183.4 million) in the first half of 2026, up from S$19.5 million (RM62.4 million) a year earlier.

"Everything happened so quickly. The scammers acted with a sense of urgency that made my colleague anxious to get the job done," Jane (not her real name), one of the company's directors, was quoted as saying by The Straits Times in a report published today.

"The instruction was just to 'do it now'," the 7...