The number of scams and cybercrime cases increased by 49.6 per cent in 2023, according to a report published by the Singapore Police Force on Feb. 19, 2024.
The number of cases rose from 33,669 cases in 2022 to 50,376 in 2023.
The total estimated amount of money lost in 2023 via scams is S$651.8 million.
Job scams and e-commerce scams among highest in 2023
Job scams and e-commerce scams were among the highest reported in 2023, with 9,914 and 9,783 cases reported, respectively.
This is compared to 6,492 job scams and 4,762 e-commerce scams in 2022.
However, the difference in average amount lost per case decreased by at least S$3,000 for both scams.
Table via Singapore Police Force.
73% of scam victims below the age of 50
Some 73 per cent of scam victims were below the age of 50, with 43.1 per cent of those being adults aged 30 to 49.
This is followed by young adults between the age of 20 to 29, making up 24.6 per cent of scam victims.
Adults most commonly fall for e-commerce scams (24.6 per cent), job scams (22.3 per cent) and phishing scams (14.3 per cent).
Young adults are most susceptible to the same types of scams as adults, but rank first for job scams with 31.9 per cent.
This is followed by e-commerce scams (25.9 per cent) and phishing scams (10.6 per cent).
Scammers take advantage of both adults and young adults through contacting them via messaging platforms, social media and online shopping platforms.
The most common scams each age group tend to fall prey to can be seen below:
Infographic from Singapore Police Force.
Social media was the most common contact method
A concerning trend is scammers' use of social media platforms by Meta to exploit potential victims, particularly Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
SPF noted they "continue to be over-represented amongst the platforms exploited by scammers to contact potential victims and conduct their scams".
Out of the 13,725 cases in 2023, where scammers contacted victims via social media, around 71.7 per cent were on Facebook and 18.5 percent were on Instagram.
In 2022, there were 7,539 cases in 2022 where scammers used social media to contact victims.
In scam cases where scammers contacted victims via Facebook, 41.5 per cent were e-commerce scams, 15.8 per cent were malware-enabled scams and 12 per cent were job scams.
The second highest contact method was messaging platforms, which increased from 7,599 in 2022 to 12,368 in 2023.
Some 68 per cent of the cases were through WhatsApp and 26.5 per cent via Telegram.
This was followed by WeChat, which made up 3.6 per cent, and lastly, others, which made up 2 per cent.
SPF's efforts to fight
Numerous efforts have been implemented by SPF to help fight scams, including harnessing strong public-private partnership.
For instance, the Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) was able to expand its partnerships to more than 100 institutions, including local and foreign banks, debit/ credit card security groups, and fintech companies.
Through this, ASCom was able to freeze more than 19,600 bank accounts based on reports referred to the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) and recovered more than S$100 million in 2023.
Other enforcement operations were also implemented to target operation processes of scammers, including fraudulent use of SIM cards, as well as increased collaboration with foreign law enforcement agencies to track down the scammers in their jurisdiction.
Fight scams through the ACT framework: SPF
SPF advised the public to adopt precautionary measures to safeguard against scams, which can be done by following the ACT framework:
- Add security features such as ScamShield and enable 2-Factor Authentication for personal accounts
- Check for potential scam signs by asking questions, fact checking requests for personal information and money transfers, and verifying the legitimacy of online listings and reviews
- Tell the authorities and platform owners about your scam encounters
Related story:
Top image via Canva.