Statistics for Top 10 Scams

4 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what are the crime statistics for the top 10 scams in Singapore for the past five years; and (b) what are the current resources in the Singapore Police Force that are dedicated to (i) solving online and phone scams as compared to the past five years and (ii) detecting and preventing online and phone scams.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Amrin Amin) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): In the past five years, the top scam types include e-commerce scams, loan scams, internet love scams and credit-for-sex scams.

For these top types of scams, the number of reported cases has gone up from around 2,600 cases in 2014 to around 5,800 cases in 2018.

The Member asked about Police resources dedicated to online and phone scams.

First, better organisation of resources. Since 2016, cybercrime investigation, digital forensics training, liaison and policy matters have been integrated under a single Cybercrime Command. This has allowed SPF to achieve better coordination between the different units involved in cybercrime.

Second, better training of officers. All frontline Police officers and investigation officers have been trained in basic cybercrime investigations. In addition, officers with the aptitude for cybercrime investigations and digital forensics are given specialised training.

Third, better use of technology to help solve crimes, such as digital forensics, malware analysis, and video analytics.

Fourth, formation of specialised units. The Police set up the Transnational Commercial Crime Task Force (TCTF) in October 2017 to tackle transnational online and phone scams. We have seen good results. The TCTF has closed over 600 bank accounts and recovered more than S$1.5 million.

The Police also set up an E-Commerce Fraud Enforcement and Coordination Team (E-FECT) in November 2018. Within two months of its formation, the E-FECT arrested 26 e-commerce scammers and solved more than 230 e-commerce scams.

To prevent scams, the Police have been working very closely with stakeholders such as convenience stores, remittance agencies and banks, to raise their awareness and develop suitable prevention measures. This includes training frontline counter staff to spot scam victims, and displaying crime advisories prominently at the counters and Automated Teller Machines. These efforts have resulted in heightened awareness and vigilance amongst their staff, which helped prevent at least 80 scam cases involving close to $300,000 in 2018.

In the online space too, the Police have engaged major online shopping platforms to implement measures to safeguard consumers. An example is Police’s partnership with Carousell to remove suspicious advertisements on their platform, introduce a secure payment system, and feature scam advisories.

The Police have also been working with the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) to step up public education on online and phone scams. The Police have also set up an Anti-Scam Helpline (1800-722-6688) and the www.scamalert.sg website. Members of the public are encouraged to visit the website to learn about the various types of scam and take steps to avoid becoming a victim.

Mr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong): I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the comprehensive reply. It is quite clear that the cybercrime trend has been going up. The Police not only need physical strength to catch the culprit, they also need cyber strength and cyber technology to help them better detect and solve the cyber crimes.

I have two supplementary questions. First, are there dedicated resources at the front line in the Police Division, in the investigation team? Are there people dedicated to solve and take care of cybercrime and phone scams? Secondly, can the Senior Parliamentary Secretary elaborate how many counter staff in the banks and other remittance outlets have the Police trained and gotten in touch with? We know that the turnover for counter staff is high. So, what are the efforts to continue to educate them, especially new staff?

Mr Amrin Amin: The Member asked about training of frontline officers. In my reply, I mentioned about the training of frontline Police officers and investigation officers, that they have been trained in basic cybercrime investigations. In particular, officers with aptitude for cybercrime investigations and digital forensics are given digitalised training. In addition, we have various specialised units that tackle cybercrime.

On the issue of banks and the other stores and the turnover of staff, I think that is a valid point. I do not have the exact numbers in terms of the number of staff that have been trained. This goes to show that on-going training and continuous outreach is very, very important given the turnover of staff. But it is something that we have to keep doing and do better.

The key thing is the role of individuals to take precautionary measures to understand that some things are just too good to be true and so, to take prevention measures at their end. I think that is the ultimate solution. Other than that, the other measures are something that we will keep doing and trying. But the individual is the best defence to cybercrimes.

Mr Ang Wei Neng: One more question: is there a dedicated unit at a Division to investigate cybercrime, or it is just part of their general duties? If there is no dedicated unit in the Division, will the Police consider setting one up in the near future?

Mr Amrin Amin: Cybrecrime investigations are consolidated under a single cybercrime command. We have consolidated all the resources within the Divisions into a single cybercrime command, where we can pool all the resources together. I think the thrust of the question is whether there is capability on the ground to address cybercrime issues. The answer is yes, there is capability and there is concerted effort on our part to tackle this problem, and these are the various measures which we have introduced – from having a single cybercrime command, ensuring training of our officers on the ground as well as forming specialised units and involving the community.

So, it is a concerted, comprehensive effort, a multi-prong approach towards tackling this issue.