Law Enforcement and Other Matters Bill

1. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) introduced the Law Enforcement and Other Matters Bill for First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill seeks to:

(a) Strengthen our levers against scams;

(b) Enhance the efficacy of Home Team operations; and

(c) Facilitate and safeguard Yellow Ribbon Singapore’s (YRSG) operations.

Strengthen Our Levers Against Scams

2. Scams remain a major concern in Singapore. In 2023, there were 46,563 scam cases, an increase of 46.8% from 31,728 in 2022.  The victims lost $651.8 million.

Introduce New Offences to Deter the Misuse of Local SIM Cards

3. To prevent scams, the Bill will introduce new offences to deter the misuse of local SIM cards (i.e. SIM cards, including e-SIMs, registered with Singapore mobile service providers) for criminal activities, including scams.

4. In the last two years, the Government has introduced several measures to block overseas scam calls and SMSes ¹ .  However, criminal syndicates are increasingly using local SIM cards, to get around these measures. The number of local mobile lines involved in scams and other cybercrimes quadrupled from 5,867 in 2021, to 23,519 in 2023, while losses almost tripled, from $137 million to $384 million.

5. Scammers have also used local mobile lines to receive scam monies (e.g., via PayNow) and to set up messaging accounts (e.g., WhatsApp) to perpetrate scams. Local mobile lines have also been used in other crimes, such as unlicensed moneylending. ²

6. To allow the Police to take stronger actions against people who misuse local SIM cards for criminal activity, the Bill introduces offences targeting three groups of offenders, as summarised in Table 1.

Table 1: Summary of New Offences and Examples of Offending Acts

Group A: Irresponsible Registrants

7. The rampant misuse of local SIM cards has been driven by people who give away their SIM cards or provide their particulars to others to be used to sign up for SIM cards, typically for money (“ irresponsible registrants ”). Based on a sampling study, the majority (78%) of local SIM cards misused for crime were not under the control of registered subscribers. ³ The Police have faced difficulties in prosecuting these irresponsible registrants. This is because current laws require the Police to prove that these people had knowingly given away their SIM cards for unlawful purposes, or had the knowledge that their SIM cards would be used for criminal activity. This is hard to prove, as they can claim ignorance.

8. The Bill will thus introduce new offences targeting irresponsible registrants. These offences are not intended to be used against those who give their local SIM cards to others for lawful purposes, or scenarios where persons were genuinely tricked into giving up their particulars, which were subsequently used to register for local SIM cards.

Group B: Those Receiving, Supplying or Possessing Local SIM Cards

9. The Police have also faced difficulties in prosecuting people found to be transferring or possessing local SIM cards without legitimate reason. These include local SIM cards registered in other persons’ particulars, and unregistered local SIM cards which scammers can easily activate to perpetrate their scams. Currently, it is challenging to prove that these people knew that their actions would contribute towards unlawful activities (e.g., that the SIM cards they were supplying would be used to perpetrate scams).

10. The Bill seeks to address this by introducing new offences against people who receive, supply, or possess local SIM cards without legitimate reason. It will also be an offence to buy, sell or rent a local SIM card registered in another person’s particulars, without the need to prove criminal intent, since there is no reason why any person should be trading local SIM cards registered under other persons’ particulars in exchange for payment. The new offences are not intended to be used against those who receive, supply or possess local SIM cards for lawful purposes.

Group C: Retailers Facilitating Fraudulent Registration of Local SIM Cards

11. Currently, mobile service providers may be found in breach of their regulatory obligations if they or their appointed retailers facilitate fraudulent registrations. The Bill introduces criminal offences to enhance deterrence against such behaviour.

12. The new offences will allow heavier punishments to be imposed directly on retailers as corporate entities, and will provide for prison sentences for senior management or employees, if they were involved in these fraudulent registrations.

Penalties

13. The offences of irresponsible registrant (Group A offences) will carry a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment of up to three years, or both.

14. The offences of receiving, supplying and possessing local SIM cards (Group B offences) and facilitating fraudulent registrations of local SIM cards (Group C offences) will carry a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment of up to three years, or both, for a first offence. For a second or subsequent offence, the penalty will be a fine of up to $20,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or both.

15. All new offences will apply to corporations and unincorporated associations such as partnerships and societies. As these entities are not able to be subject to imprisonment, the maximum fines for these entities will be twice the amount for individuals.

16. Examples of when the SIM card offences will apply can be found in Annex A.

Facilitate the Conduct of Simulated Phishing Exercises

17. To facilitate the conduct of simulated phishing exercises, the Bill amends the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act (MOA) to introduce a defence when false messages are transmitted for legitimate purposes related to public order, public safety or national security, or the prevention, investigation or prosecution of offences.

18. Currently, section 14D of the MOA criminalises the transmission of a message which a person knows is false or fabricated. However, the offence technically also covers false messages transmitted for legitimate purposes, such as simulated phishing exercises. Such exercises are conducted as part of cybersecurity practices to train individuals to avoid phishing attacks, thereby reducing their risk of falling victim to scams and cybercrime.

19. The amendments rectify this unintended coverage.

Enhance the Efficacy of Home Team Operations

20. Next, the Bill seeks to enhance the operational efficacy of the Home Team Departments, in the following areas.

Enhance the Police’s Ability to Apprehend Persons Posing a Safety Risk to Themselves and Others

21. First, the Bill amends the Police Force Act to align the powers of apprehension in the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act (MHCTA), as well as other laws which provide for the apprehension of persons, with the powers of arrest under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). This will allow the Police to search, restrain, and use necessary force when apprehending a mentally disordered person under the MHCTA, as well as other Acts where Police are empowered to apprehend a person. As the apprehended person may turn violent or possess offensive weapons, such powers are needed to protect the safety of the person being apprehended, as well as those around him. Currently, the law does not set out what powers are available to the Police in apprehending a person.

22. The Bill also clarifies the thresholds that must be met before a Police officer can apprehend a mentally disordered person under the MHCTA. This includes clarifying that the danger to human life or personal safety posed by the person need only be reasonably likely to occur and need not be imminent, and that a Police officer can apprehend the person before any actual harm is caused. These clarifications on the thresholds will ensure that the Police are able to apprehend mentally disordered persons in a timely fashion, and prevent harm to the person, themselves, and others.

23. The following scenario demonstrates why it is necessary to clarify these thresholds: The Police receive a call for assistance about a person who had threatened to kill his family members, but did not say that he would do it immediately. The person making the threat was traced in Police’s records to have a history of mental disorder. The complaint appears to be credible, the threat of physical harm appears reasonably likely to occur and likely attributable to a mental disorder, even though it does not appear that the person would be carrying out his threats immediately or in a matter of hours.

24. Without the proposed amendments, the current section 7 of the MHCTA would not allow the Police to apprehend the person, as the danger posed via the threat of physical harm was not sufficiently imminent. The proposed amendments will address this operational gap.

Enable the Police Not to Take Further Action in Cases of Non-arrestable Offences Under Certain Circumstances

25. Second, the Bill amends the CPC to enable the Police to decide not to take further action in cases of non-arrestable offences, if the Police have reason to believe that (a) the case is not of a serious nature, or (b) there are insufficient grounds for proceeding with the matter.

26. Currently when a non-arrestable offence is reported, the Police will need to either investigate, or refer the informant to a Magistrate or to a mediator at the Community Mediation Centre (CMC). For cases which satisfy either of the two limbs listed in para 25, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate them or refer the cases to the Magistrate or CMC.

27. Similar provisions are already in place for arrestable offences.

Other Amendments to Enhance Home Team Operations

28. Third, the Bill introduces the following amendments to enhance Home Team operations:

(a) Allow officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) to grant bail or personal bond for persons whom they have arrested.

(b) Allow persons arrested under the National Registration Act and the Passports Act to be detained in immigration depots. ⁴

29. Currently, the CPC empowers Police officers, but not enforcement officers from other law enforcement agencies in the Home Team, to grant bail or personal bond to arrested persons. Persons arrested by CNB, ICA or GRA must be brought to a Police officer, in order to be released on bail.

30. These amendments would strengthen the operational efficiency of the Home Team, and reduce the operational risks in having to bring arrested persons to Police stations for the purpose of granting them bail or detaining them.

Facilitate and Safeguard YRSG’s Operations

31. Last, the Bill seeks to enhance and safeguard YRSG’s operational efficiency.

Provide YRSG with greater flexibility on staff administration and disciplinary matters

32. Currently, YRSG needs to enact changes in subsidiary legislation in order to change its internal disciplinary framework to comply with changes in the Public Service Division’s directives. This is unnecessary and inconsistent with the practices of most statutory boards.

33. The Bill amends the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises Act (SCORE Act), to remove the need for subsidiary legislation to be made regarding administrative staff matters. Consequentially, the two existing pieces of subsidiary legislation on staff disciplinary matters will be revoked.

Safeguard Yellow Ribbon symbols and representations

34. Today, YRSG’s corporate logo and symbols of initiatives related to YRSG’s mission (e.g., the Yellow Ribbon Project logo and Yellow Ribbon Fund logo) are trademarks of YRSG (see Annex B for examples of the logos). They are used in YRSG’s campaigns and programmes to galvanise society to support the reintegration of ex-offenders. However, there have been instances where these symbols were misused for ill intent. For example, similar symbols were affixed on merchandise which was sold, to earn money for the seller’s own benefit, under the guise of supporting ex-offenders.

35. To safeguard the symbols and ensure they are not misused for ill intent, the Bill amends the SCORE Act, to give YRSG the exclusive right to the use of YRSG’s symbols, and symbols of initiatives related to YRSG’s mission. Those who misuse these symbols for ill intent will be liable for prosecution, and could face a fine of up to $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term of up to 6 months, or to both. In the case of a continuing offence, the offender could be further fined up to $250 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction. This is consistent with existing provisions governing the use of symbols of other MHA statutory boards.

[1] These include blocking international calls spoofing as local numbers, and requiring organisations to register their SMS Sender IDs.

[2] In 2023, 1,329 local mobile lines were involved in unlicensed moneylending.

[3] The sampling study was based on 127 SIM cards used for scams and unlicensed moneylending from Jan 2021 to May 2023.

[4] Immigration depots refer to places designated for the examination, inspection or detention of persons under the Immigration Act 1959. Examples include the ICA Building, Tuas Checkpoint and Woodlands Checkpoint.

Annexes

1. Annex A - Examples of When the SIM Card Offences Will Apply [PDF, 78.8 KB]
2. Annex B - Examples of Yellow Ribbon Symbols [PDF, 126 KB]