Capabilities to detect and prevent communications of real-time deepfake impersonations

Question:

Ms Hazlina Abdul Halim: To ask the Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs in light of scams involving deepfake impersonation of Government Officials (a) what capabilities are being developed to detect such real-time deepfake communications; and (b) whether the Government will consider secure authentication methods such as digital signatures or a verified official channel for high-stakes communications with citizens and businesses.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs:

1. We have imposed several anti-scam measures under the Online Criminal Harms Act to require designated online service providers to detect and remove deepfakes that are used to perpetrate scams. These include user verification requirements, and the use of facial recognition technology to identify such deepfakes. We regularly review the adequacy of our anti-scam measures and will impose tighter requirements if necessary.

2. The Government is also taking steps to improve the identifiability of legitimate government communications. We will introduce a single recognisable number prefix for all Government agencies to use for their calls with members of the public, which SPF will pilot later this year. We are also considering tagging calls from Government agencies with recognisable caller names, similar to the gov.sg SMS Sender ID.

3. Ultimately, the best defence against scams is a discerning public. We would like to remind the public that government officials will never ask you to transfer money, disclose bank log-in details over a phone call or install mobile applications from unofficial app stores. If in doubt of the legitimacy of a call, check with the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799.