Over 500 fake websites impersonating MHA, 7 Home Team agencies including SPF & SCDF taken down

More than 500 fake websites impersonating the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and seven Home Team agencies were taken down, the ministry said in a press release on Aug. 12.

Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) detected the websites on Aug. 10, and all identified websites were taken down by Aug. 11.

The seven agencies included the HTX, Singapore Police Force (SPF), Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Singapore Prison Service (SPS), and Home Team Academy (HTA).

Replicated branding

The fake websites replicated the official branding and publicly available content from the websites of MHA and the affected Home Team agencies, MHA said.

This could have potentially misled members of the public into believing that they were accessing official MHA or Home Team agency websites, the ministry noted.

There was no evidence that the fake websites were used to perpetrate scams or phish for information from members of the public, it added.

There was also no evidence that the systems of MHA or Home Team agencies were compromised or accessed without authorisation.

Advisory

The ministry advised members of the public to remain vigilant when accessing websites purporting to belong to MHA or Home Team agencies.

They are advised to take the following precautions:

• Verify the website address: Official Government websites end with .gov.sg. Always check the website address carefully before providing any personal or sensitive information.
• Look out for irregularities: Be alert to unusual website addresses, spelling or grammatical errors, poor-quality images, broken links, or pages and functions that do not work as expected.
• Access Government services through official channels: Where possible, access Government websites through official agency websites, the gov.sg portal, or by typing website addresses directly into browsers instead of clicking on links from unsolicited messages, emails, social media posts or advertisements.

Those who encounter any suspicious websites purporting to be official MHA or Home Team agency sites are encouraged to report them to the Police via the ScamShield Helpline at 1799, or through this website.

MHA said it will continue to monitor the situation closely and work with the relevant agencies and partners to identify and take appropriate action against any websites that impersonate MHA or Home Team agencies.