Combating Labour Trafficking and Scams in Southeast Asia with our ASEAN Partners

Questions:

Mr Christopher de Souza: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) how is Singapore cooperating with ASEAN partners to combat the growing threat of labour trafficking and scam centres in Southeast Asia; and (b) whether there are plans to strengthen enforcement capabilities to better protect vulnerable groups of persons from exploitation.

Mr Christopher de Souza: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs since 2023, how many Singaporeans have been exploited by or caught up in labour trafficking scams in the region.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1. The Government has been closely monitoring the rise of scam centres in the region, to where scam victims are lured, trafficked and held captive by scam syndicates to “work”. To date, there are no verified incidents of Singaporeans being victims of such human trafficking. To be clear, since 2023, the Government has offered consular assistance to five Singaporeans upon receiving information that they might have been exploited in overseas scam centres. However, none accepted the offer of assistance.

2. To combat this transnational threat, Singapore has stepped up in recent years, bilateral and multilateral collaboration with foreign law enforcement agencies through intelligence exchanges, joint investigations, and coordinated enforcement. For instance, in 2024, the Singapore Police Force collaborated with various foreign law enforcement agencies to successfully take down 16 scam syndicates.

3. Singapore also participates in various regional platforms to discuss cooperation in combatting transnational crimes, including scams and trafficking in persons. These platforms include the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime and its Working Group on Trafficking in Persons, as well as the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime.