February 24, 2023, 05:08 PM
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Users of WhatsApp will be able to check if messages are scams with ScamShield Bot, an free-to-use automated system.
The bot will also allow users to report shady phone numbers and messages.
It will bolster defences against malicious actors, and complement the ScamShield application, which was introduced in November 2020.
Minister for Communications and Information (MCI) Josephine Teo shared during the Committee of Supply (COS) debate on Feb. 24, 2023 that the WhatsApp bot will be introduced this year.
Teo, who is also Minister-in-Charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, said this will allow the public to report scam messages more easily.
ScamShield app not required to use bot
Those who want to make use of the ScamShield bot do not have to download the ScamShield app.
All they need to do is to send the chatbot a message.
This is what the bot might look like:
Image via ScamShield
The app, available on Android and iOS platforms, was jointly developed by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) and the Open Government Products team at the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech).
It filters out scam messages identified with artificial intelligence and automatically blocks phone numbers used in other scam cases or reported by ScamShield users.
ScamShield has seen more than 500,000 user downloads to date.
Teo confirmed that ScamShield has screened over three million messages and calls since it was introduced.
Top photos by Matthias Ang & charlesdeluvio via Unsplash
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