More scammers using Singpass-verified Carousell accounts, MHA may take further action

Online marketplace Carousell will be ramping up its safeguards to prevent the misuse of verified Carousell accounts for scams.

This comes as more scammers have been taking control of Singpass-verified Carousell accounts to execute their scams, either through malicious means or by on the black market.

This was revealed through investigations by the police, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Nov. 21.

Misused accounts

Between April and June 2025, the total number of reported scams on Carousell fell by 36 per cent, as compared to the same period last year.

This follows a new enhanced user verification pilot, implemented from July 2024 to June 2025, targeted at high-risk sellers.

However, e-commerce scams specifically rose by roughly 9 per cent over the same period.

This comes alongside an increase in scammers getting hold of verified accounts for scams.

Their methods include phishing login details, paying users to relinquish their verified accounts, or use stolen or purchased Singpass credentials to verify an account.

Additional safeguards

To prevent the misuse of verified accounts for scams, Carousell will improve its user authentication processes.

This includes the creation of more secure login options, including passkey and biometric logins.

It will also act to suspend accounts detected to have been relinquished to scammers, and blacklist Singpass credentials involved in these suspended accounts, so that they cannot be used again to verify new accounts.

The platform has committed to making these measures by Jan. 31, 2026.

Enhanced verification pilot

Carousell is required to verify the identities of sellers and advertisers against government-issued records, under the the E-Commerce Code.

The enhanced verification pilot was intended to mitigate scams. After the initial period from Jul. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024, MHA extended the pilot for another six months to Jun. 30, 2025.

MHA said it would require Carousell to verify the identities of all sellers, if the number of e-commerce scams on Carousell did not drop significantly during the pilot.

In its Nov. 21 statement, it said it would continue to monitor the effectiveness of Carousell's measures in mitigating e-commerce scams.

More action

If the need arises, MHA may direct Carousell to implement even further security measures to counter scams.

The police will take also enforcement action against people found to have abused their Singpass credentials to facilitate scams.

At the same time, MHA is also considering legislating new offences to better act against users who wilfully relinquish Singpass-verified online accounts for criminal purposes.

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