As digitalization drives banks to shutter more retail branches, the disappearance of these brick-and-mortar facilities has been found to be a significant factor behind the scourge of online scams and identity theft. The causal link, reported in a novel investigation by a trio of academics including Singapore Management University's (SMU) Assistant Professor of Finance Gloria Yang Yu, received the Best Paper Award (2025) from the ANU-FIRN Banking and Financial Stability Meeting. The annual meeting is organized by Australian National University, and the Financial Research Network (FIRN) for financial economics researchers in Australia and New Zealand.