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Most of those who submitted false SkillsFuture claims have repaid monies

SINGAPORE — As of Tuesday, more than 85 per cent of the individuals who had submitted fraudulent SkillsFuture Credit claims have returned the money or taken steps to return the money, SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) said.

Members of public visiting and asking questions of the SkillsFuture Credit and courses. TODAY file photo

Members of public visiting and asking questions of the SkillsFuture Credit and courses. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — As of Tuesday, more than 85 per cent of the individuals who had submitted fraudulent SkillsFuture Credit claims have returned the money or taken steps to return the money, SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) said.

Final letters of demand would be sent to the remaining individuals who have not returned the monies, failing which SSG said that it would take the appropriate legal action against them.

In January, SSG revealed that about 4,400 individuals had submitted false claims, encashing their credits without attending any courses. These claims — which were flagged by its data analytics system — amounted to some S$2.2 million.

In a statement yesterday, the agency’s chief executive officer, Mr Ng Cher Pong, said that SSG would continue to review and improve its policies and procedures, while keeping the claims process user-friendly to encourage Singaporeans to use the credits.

“For individuals and organisations that abuse the SkillsFuture Credit, we take a stern view and will not hesitate to act against the parties involved,” he added.

The bogus claims were first discovered when there was a sudden spike in the claims, with thousands of applications flooding in for the same course.

Most of the cheats in this case — or more than two-thirds — submitted the claims towards the end of January.

Before this happened, SSG would detect about 80 false claims each month, it said previously.

It has since gone on to tighten its enforcement system, such as by conducting “mystery shopping audits” to catch unethical and misleading marketing practices, strengthening the sensitivity of its data analytics system to detect anomalies, and stepping up the frequency of checks and audits on training providers and individual claims.

Under the law, individuals who provide false information to SSG relating to their applications of the SkillsFuture Credit claims can be fined up to S$10,000, or face a jail term of up to 12 months, or both.

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