Review of Resources to be Deployed to Government Agencies to Handle Caseload with Increasing Number of Scams

6 Ms Poh Li San asked the Minister for Home Affairs in view of the 32.6% increase in scam cases and 13 scam syndicates busted in 2022 (a) whether more resources will be deployed by the Ministry and relevant agencies in the financial sector to deal with the growing case load; and (b) whether more can be done in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies in other jurisdictions to track and arrest culprits responsible for the scam cases.

The Minister of State for Home Affairs (Ms Sun Xueling) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Mr Speaker, Sir, with the resources the Home Team has, the Home Team has reorganised ourselves for greater efficiency and effectiveness. For example, the Police set up the Anti-Scam Command in March 2022, to consolidate and optimise resources and expertise in scams across all their units.

The Police also partner stakeholders from the public and private sectors in our fight against scams, to complement and supplement our own capabilities. They worked with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) to co-locate staff from six major banks at the Anti-Scam Command. Staff from the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) are also co-located at the Anti-Scam Command to support Police investigations in Singpass-related scams. This has enhanced the Police's capabilities to more expeditiously stop more people from falling prey to ongoing scams and freeze bank accounts before the scammed monies flow out of Singapore.

MAS also works closely with the Standing Committee on Fraud of the ABS to drive anti-scam efforts in the financial industry. This includes implementing robust measures to safeguard customers, such as putting in place an emergency "kill switch" for customers to swiftly freeze their bank accounts which they suspect may have been compromised.

The Police have leveraged technology to enhance our ability to deal with scams and facilitate quicker decision-making. For instance, they use analytics to detect and block scam websites. This includes tools that look out for tell-tale characteristics of scam websites.

As scammers are mostly based overseas, our efforts to solve scam cases depend significantly on the cooperation from foreign law enforcement agencies. We are keen to enhance collaboration with foreign law enforcement agencies, but this will depend on their capacity and receptivity.

Where possible, the Police work with overseas counterparts to exchange information and conduct joint operations to dismantle scam syndicates. In 2022, close collaboration between the Police and foreign law enforcement agencies led to the successful takedown of 13 scam syndicates.

Since 2017, the Police have been a member of the multilateral platform called the Asset-Recovery Interagency Network – Asia Pacific. The network spans 28 member jurisdictions within the Asia-Pacific region and aims to increase the effectiveness of members' efforts in depriving criminals of their illicit profits.

INTERPOL also plays a crucial role in our fight against scams. They provide a platform for the Police to collaborate and share intelligence with the larger international policing community. In 2022, the Police participated in Operation HAECHI III, a global operation coordinated by INTERPOL over five months to tackle cyber-enabled financial crime. About 1,000 suspects were arrested and over US$129 million worth of virtual assets were seized.

Enforcement alone, however, is not enough. We have also put in place upstream measures to try to prevent scammers from approaching Singaporeans in the first place. Such measures include working with telcos to block SMSes sent from unregistered sender IDs and overseas calls attempting to spoof domestic phone numbers.

Ultimately, the best defence against scams is a discerning public. We have stepped up our public education efforts. This year, the Police, together with the National Crime Prevention Council, launched the new anti-scam campaign called, "I can ACT against scams", which calls on the public to take concrete actions to protect themselves and their loved ones by taking the three key steps of ACT. A for ADD(ing) security features, such as installing the ScamShield app; C for CHECK(ing) for scam signs and to verify with official sources; and T for TELL(ing) authorities, family and friends about scams.

Mr Speaker: Ms Poh Li San.

Ms Poh Li San (Sembawang): I thank the Minister of State for her replies. I certainly agree with the importance of education. I have been also very supportive on-the-ground, for all the education efforts. I have one supplementary question. Are we prepared to trade off speed and convenience of transactions to protect our users, at least, until we see a drop in scam cases? And I was also told that seniors are now stopped being given the PayNow facility by banks. But the question is, instead of excluding our seniors from tools like PayNow, for large transaction amounts, are we able to get the banks and financial institutions to look at how they can differentiate, say, new PayNow numbers from the usual list, so that the banks can have enough time to pre-screen the numbers before these big amounts of transactions are allowed?

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for her supplementary question. Indeed, we need to balance having an efficient and effective banking system, versus having security features in place to protect our customers. As such, we have been discussing with the banks to look at whenever they are pushing out new innovative products and services, that they have a security-by-design concept and to set transaction limits at reasonable amounts to prevent possible huge losses of monies, should customers unwittingly fall prey to scams.

I have mentioned earlier that to secure banking channels, the MAS has been working with the ABS to introduce additional safeguards. This includes the removal of clickable links and emails or SMSes sent to consumers and the introduction of a cooling period for activation of a new digital token.

This particular point about the introduction of a cooling period is an important point, especially when it involves seniors. They may, unfortunately, sometimes be conned, scammed into setting up an Internet banking facility. They may unwittingly add beneficiaries to their banking services who may be scammers. And that is why the introduction of a cooling period for the activation of new services is an important step.