Singapore endorses communique on tackling scams at inaugural global fraud summit
SINGAPORE — The communique endorsed by Singapore and 10 other countries on Monday (March 11) in London at the inaugural Global Fraud Summit signals a high level commitment to tackle scams, Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo said on Wednesday.

Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo (first row, second from right) attended the inaugural Global Fraud Summit in London. A communique signalling a commitment to tackle fraud and scams was endorsed by 11 countries at the summit.
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SINGAPORE — The communique endorsed by Singapore and 10 other countries on Monday (March 11) in London at the inaugural Global Fraud Summit signals a high level commitment to tackle scams, Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo said on Wednesday.
There is widespread acknowledgement that fraud is a global problem, she told reporters via video call after the two-day event, which involved governments, regulators, non-profit groups and industry representatives.
The communique included commitments to explore ways to improve the recovery of fraudulently acquired funds across jurisdictions.
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States also endorsed the communique.
Mrs Teo said that strengthening cooperation when it comes to asset recovery is important because fraudulent funds often flow out of a jurisdiction very quickly.
The agreement also recognises the critical role that industry plays and encourages them to strengthen their anti-scam efforts.
Platforms owned by industry representatives are available to a wide number of users and have been exploited by fraudsters, Mrs Teo said.
"We need to get them to step up on their measures so as to protect their users," she said.
"International collaboration is a critical component of Singapore’s strategy to combat fraud, and we are committed to doing our part — both domestically and on the global stage," Mrs Teo said, according to a press release from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
With the help of other countries, Singapore was able to take down 19 transnational scam syndicates last year, she noted.
Earlier this year, the Singapore Police Force said these transnational syndicates were responsible for more than 730 scam cases and more than 110 people were arrested.
Singapore previously signed an agreement with Malaysia to fight scams across telecommunication channels. In 2022, Singapore and Australia also signed a pact to combat scams and spam.
Mrs Teo also said more than 19,600 bank accounts were frozen in Singapore last year.
Banks and the police work together to trace funds and freeze scam-tainted accounts, and more than S$100 million of scam losses were recovered.
There were a record 46,563 scam cases in Singapore last year. The most common scam that people fell for were job scams, followed by e-commerce and fake friend call scams. Victims lost a total of S$651.8 million, slightly less than the year before.
Mrs Teo said that phishing scams remain quite serious in other parts of the world, and some countries were interested in Singapore's SMS Sender ID Registry, which requires organisations to register their sender IDs.
Messages from sender IDs that are not on the registry will be marked as "Likely-Scam", according to the Singapore Network Information Centre.
"The registry has been critical in bringing down phishing scam numbers in Singapore, because many of those scams were perpetrated through SMSes," said Mrs Teo. Other countries are keen to implement a similar system in their countries, she added.
They also asked about Singapore's Online Criminal Harms Act, particularly the fact that the law allows the government to ask social media platforms to disable access to scam content or accounts.
International cooperation can also benefit different countries when scammers are in experimentation mode.
"They will try a tactic in one jurisdiction and see whether it is successful. And if it is, they may replicate or modify the same type of approach and use it in another jurisdiction," she said.
If a new scam type first emerges overseas, Singapore may be able to take preventive measures.
"Opportunities to exchange information regularly with one another can be very helpful potentially in preventing certain types of scam typologies, fraud typologies from even surfacing or gaining ground in our respective jurisdictions," she said. CNA
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