Parliament
MHA to introduce easily recognisable prefixed number for police to contact public in fight against scams
Government official impersonation scams contributed to the highest average amount lost per case in 2025.
February 27, 2026, 07:49 PM
The Singapore Police will be introducing a single, easily recognisable prefixed number which all police officers will use to call members of the public in future.
The new measure help Singaporeans identify legitimate calls from government agencies, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming at MHA's Committee of Supply Debate in parliament on Feb. 27.
"Going forward, if you receive an unknown phone call and the caller claims to be a Police officer, it is likely a scam," he said.
Earlier in his speech, Goh said that government official impersonation scams (GOIS) more than doubled to over 3,000 from 2024 to 2025, becoming among the top five most reported scam types.
While the monetary losses generated from all scam cases in Singapore fell by about S$200 million, or 18 per cent over the year, GOIS cases rose.
Such cases contributed the highest average amount lost per case at more than S$72,000, said Goh, adding that scammers usually impersonate high-ranking executives and government officials using deepfakes in live video calls and instructing victims to transfer funds under the pretext of business payments.
Goh also introduced a number of other measures that will be implemented to combat scam in Singapore.
New measures
In 2026, online platforms will be required to put in place more anti-scam measures.
For instance, WhatsApp, similar to Apple and Google, will be required to implement measures against the spoofing of “gov.sg” and Singapore government agencies.
MHA will also work with the interagency Sentencing Advisory Panel to introduce sentencing guidelines for the misuse of SIM cards from this year.
"These sentencing guidelines will provide a framework on the factors to be considered in sentencing, to ensure that the sentences meted out for egregious cases are sufficiently deterrent," said Goh.
To combat scammers approaching victims on online platforms like Facebook and Carousell, MHA will collaborate with platforms to strengthen anti-scam measures, including enhancing existing Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) Codes of Practice.
This may include stricter user verification and imposing a response time for platforms to act on user report on scams.
Previously, MHA issued an implementation directive (ID) to tech giant Meta on Jan. 27, ordering it to take enhanced measures against Facebook scams impersonating users.
Exploring legislation
MHA is also exploring new legislation to enable the police to enforce against mules who obtain or supply online accounts to facilitate scams and other crimes, Goh said.
In addition, the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) are developing a platform, known as the National Scams List to facilitate the automatic real-time exchange of information between the government and its partners, according to Goh.
"This will provide our partners with additional information on known scam enablers, such as bank accounts, phone lines and online accounts, as well as the identity of culprits behind these scam enablers."
Using the information, banks can then proactively uncover and suspend more potential scam accounts even before they are used for scams, as well as report enablers to the police.
HTX will also be launching other digital products to support MHA’s fight against scams, including a scam website detection tool which proactively detects and disrupts scam websites.
The tool will improve the efficiency of website hunting by ingesting and filtering millions of new domains registered daily, with the aim to accurately identify and disrupt recently created scam websites, Goh explained.
It will be fully rolled out by the fourth quarter of 2026.
Top images via MDDI/YouTube & Canva
