Singapore has seen a significant increase in online scams, Sun Xueling said during the Ministry of Home Affairs committee of supply debate on March 2, 2020.

Increase in online crimes

According to Sun, scams have emerged as an area of concern.

This was due to how "technology has changed the way in which criminals operate".

She said: "Social media platforms offer criminals a new means of targeting victims. Foreign syndicates, use the internet and spoofing technology to obscure their identity and conduct illegal activities."

Role of businesses and government agencies

Sun, who is Senior Parliamentary Secretary of MHA, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF) is enhancing its capabilities to disrupt such activities as a result of evolving technologies.

She brought up the establishment of the Anti-Scam Centre in 2019, which helps to mitigate the losses of victims.

An Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams (IMCS), which will involve MHA, Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) will be set up.

Sun said: "We will do more. Given the different domains that online scams can impact, we will be setting up an Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams, comprising of MHA, MCI, MTI and other members to execute a comprehensive strategy to combat scams."

She mentioned that the government cannot work alone to combat scams and will work with e-commerce platforms and banks to put in place upstream measures to reduce the ability of criminals to do harm.

Discerning public is the best defence against scams

Sun emphasised that "the best defence against scams continues to be a discerning public".

She urged members of the public to remain vigilant against scams: "We urge the public to be sceptical of incredulous promises, to utilise escrow accounts provided by the platforms for transactions where possible, and to check with the authorities when approached by dubious people purporting to be government officials."

"Police will continue to work with the National Crime Prevention Council to engage the community and spread this message."

In a recent example, scammers have posed as Ministry of Health (MOH) officers over the phone, under the pretense of contact tracing in order to gather personal information from victims.

In addition, for those who are found to be falsely representing a registered charity to solicit money, the penalty is three years of jail or a fine of up to S$10,000, or both.

Online donation appeals through social media might not always be true, as mentioned by SPF at the start of this year.

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Top photos via rupixen.com/Unsplash and Youtube/govsingapore