ATM Uncle

ATM Uncle is the nickname given to an unidentified middle-aged Singaporean man who became a viral internet sensation following two separate public confrontations captured on video, first in February 2017 at a POSB ATM, and again in April 2024 at an MRT station. He is characterized by his distinctive (and allegedly faked) British accent, aggressive demeanor toward strangers, and confrontational behavior in public spaces.

Despite achieving viral fame across Singapore's social media landscape, the man's real identity has never been publicly revealed. He remains known only by various nicknames including "ATM Uncle," "British English Uncle," "Mr. British English," and Singapore's "Eloquent Siao Lang" (eloquent crazy person).

The ATM Confrontation (February 2017)

On or around 3 February 2017, the man was captured on video at a POSB ATM machine, believed to be located at Empress Market in Singapore. The video showed a middle-aged man in a white singlet, three-quarter jeans and slippers, standing with his arms crossed him verbally berating the woman a woman who was using the ATM while he waited in the queue behind her.

The confrontation began with him shouting at the woman in a thick British accent, which came to be his most quoted line:

"Hello? What are you doing? Miss Thing? I am losing my patience with you. If you don't know how to operate this machine, get out and let other people use it. You're being inconsiderate."

He then escalated the confrontation with xenophobic remarks.

Viral spread

The video was originally posted on Facebook by a user named Wak Ali and quickly went viral across social media platforms.[4] Within just five hours of being posted, the video was shared 9,573 times.

The incident was widely covered by Singapore media outlets including Mothership.sg, STOMP, and World of Buzz. Mothership.sg notably dubbed him Singapore's "most eloquent siao lang" (most eloquent crazy person), a nickname that would stick in popular culture.

The video sparked intense debate on social media about queue etiquette, public behavior, and xenophobia in Singapore. While some netizens sympathized with the frustration of waiting in line, many condemned his aggressive behavior and xenophobic language.

ATM Uncle spotted in MRT. Photo from Instagram.

The MRT Station (April 2024)

Seven years after the ATM incident, the same uncle went viral again in April 2024. This time, he was captured at an MRT station in Singapore, once again engaging in a confrontational exchange, this time with a person he perceived to be Indian.

In the video, the man was heard telling someone "This is Singapore, NOT India"—once again speaking in his distinctive thick British accent.

Before boarding the train, he was also heard saying:

"Malaysians know how to behave, you don't. Stupid cow."

Viral spread

The video was shared on the Instagram page @tiagong_sg with the caption "Tiagong Mr. British English is back, this time with 'This is Singapore, not India'." The video quickly went viral, with many netizens recognizing him as the same man from the 2017 ATM incident.

Comments on the viral video included reactions such as "This uncle never change leh" and "Wah this uncle still around ah," indicating that many Singaporeans remembered him from his first viral appearance seven years earlier.

Meme culture & remakes

The ATM Uncle's sustained relevance from February 2017 to 2025 represents an exceptional phenomenon in the fast-moving world of viral content. Recent TikTok videos about the ATM Uncle continue to garner significant engagement, with one video receiving 266.3K likes and 10.5K comments as late as 2025.

Recreation of the ATM Uncle by a TikTok user. Photo from TikTok.

On TikTok, the phrase "ATM Uncle" has generated 4.8 million posts as of November 2025, demonstrating the meme's continued proliferation across social media. Multiple active hashtags including #atmuncle, #whatareyoudoing, #patience, and #viralsingapore continue to circulate across platforms. Content creators such as Cayydences recreated the ATM Uncle, other local TikTokers did a "ATM Uncle % accuracy " trend, with some videos garnering over thousands of views. According to research on Singaporean meme culture, successful local memes "represent the shared experiences within a community" and provide "a more informal look into the people and societies they satirise."