Josephine Teo suggests Singapore among top countries for scam amounts due to high reporting levels by victims

On Wednesday (10 Jan), the Singapore Parliament held a seven-hour session discussing the importance of a safe digital space.

Members of Parliament from the People's Action Party (PAP) proposed a motion titled "Building An Inclusive And Safe Digital Society." The motion emphasized the need for a comprehensive, national approach to maintaining trust and safety in the digital realm.

It included 13 recommendations aimed at enhancing the security of online transactions, detecting deepfakes and scams, and educating society on safe digital participation.

In response to the discussion, Singapore's Minister for Communication and Information, Josephine Teo, announced the introduction of new app guidelines.

These guidelines, known as the Safe App Standard, are designed to aid app developers in incorporating robust security features. Minister Teo explained that these best practices, including additional user authentication and malware detection, are initially voluntary but may become mandatory based on their effectiveness.

Additionally, guidelines have been issued to help telecommunications companies protect consumers, particularly those vulnerable to scams. This includes training frontline staff to identify and assist at-risk consumers and encouraging telcos to waive charges for scam victims.

Moreover, the Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI), in collaboration with A*STAR, is launching a centre to enhance internet safety. This initiative will focus on developing tools and strategies to identify harmful content, such as deepfakes and false claims, and assist vulnerable groups in verifying online information. The research conducted by the centre will also contribute to new legislation or regulations, particularly concerning deepfakes.

Minister Teo also highlighted Singapore's reputation as a leader in combating scams in her address to Parliament, with its innovative initiatives drawing international admiration. She stressed that these initiatives, often seen as groundbreaking and at the forefront of technology, have set a standard in the global community.

Ms Teo highlighted various measures taken by Singapore to combat scams effectively and substantially reduce losses.

These include widespread call blocking, the Singapore SMS Sender ID Registry (SSIR), kill switches employed by banks, and the CPF Board's online withdrawal limit.

She also addressed inquiries regarding rankings that positioned Singapore as one of the top places in terms of the considerable losses incurred by victims.

A collaborative study by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (Gasa) and ScamAdviser revealed that scammers globally accrued an estimated US$1.02 trillion from August 2022 to August 2023, with Singapore recording the highest average losses among victims.

While acknowledging Singapore's leading position in terms of scam amounts, she emphasised a common reluctance among victims globally to report such incidents.

"I can only say this: in many places scammed victims are not going to take the trouble to report the fact that they have been scammed."

She claims this reluctance often stems from a lack of confidence in the authorities' ability to effectively tackle these issues, leading to widespread underreporting in many regions.

However, Ms Teo noted that Singapore contrasts sharply with this trend, boasting particularly high reporting levels.

"This is of course not to trivialize the amounts loss, but I think we have to recognize that fact."

Highlighting the significant amounts lost to scams, Teo emphasized the importance of recognizing the high level of public engagement in Singapore.

She commended the public's responsiveness to educational efforts on scams while acknowledging the anxiety that constant exposure to scam-related information can induce.

Ms Teo emphasized that this heightened awareness plays a critical role in Singapore's comprehensive strategy against scams.

"This gives a certain sense of anxiety. But it is an essential part of our overall scam defence which we cannot avoid, and which we aim to fortify through a variety of means."

Addressing what more can be done, she told the House to acknowledge that no country has discovered a silver bullet when it comes to combating scams.

 She pointed out the absence of a single, definitive solution to completely eradicate scams, describing it as a "wicked problem" in both the cyber and scam domains.

"In cyber, as well as in scams, you solve one problem, the bad actors are driven somewhere else, and you have to start again."

"Therefore, an agile approach is critical. A very good example is how we had to very quickly pivot to dealing with malware-enabled scams, which had not been conceived of before."

"It's very easy to see we should have anticipated it, not so easy in reality, " she added.

In the later part of her speech, Ms Teo challenged the "crisis of confidence" remarks made by MPs from the Workers' Party. She made an analogy of bystanders watching firefighters put out a fire, “pontificating” and telling the firefighters what they should do.

WP Chairman Sylvia Lim, MP for Aljuned GRC, in her speech for the motion, voiced her concerns about the crisis of public confidence over digital transactions in a motion debated in the Singapore Parliament.

She pointed out that even previously trusted savings avenues, like CPF funds and fixed deposits, are now vulnerable to scams and malware, contributing to this crisis of trust.

Following Mrs Teo's address, Ms Lim stood to address her allegation, emphasising that her speech did not intend to politicize the issue or to create panic, but rather, she intended to reflect what she saw as the current sentiment of significant sections of the public.

She further laid out reasons to reflect on the public sentiment on declining trust toward online space.

She cited the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)’s statistics showing that 99% of persons aged 60 and above are worried about becoming scam victims.

Ms Lim also highlighted feedback from members of the public who expressed a desire to take their accounts offline, and the establishment of a Task Force on the resilience and security of Digital Infrastructure and services, in which she believed that its purpose was actually to oversee matters of public confidence.

“I would argue that there is a serious issue with public confidence, and I think it is borne out by these factors that I’ve mentioned, ” nevertheless, Ms Lim acknowledged the work done by the agencies is a big task and a 24/7 effort.

In her response, Ms Teo did not address the point about the 99% statistics but instead went on to say, 'Whatever is posted on social media should benefit people who are not able to take part in this discussion. I hope that messages being put out by MPs don't simply use very sensational or glaring headlines.'