National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) Gala Dinner 2024 – Speech by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

NCPC Patron,

Mr Lim Hock Chee

NCPC Chairman,

Mr Gerald Singham

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. Good Evening.

2. The NCPC was established 40 years ago. Its purpose was to raise public awareness of crime, to promote crime prevention, and to emphasise that it is a shared responsibility of all to prevent crime.

3. Today, what is our crime landscape? It is very different from that of 40 years ago.

4. Physical crime – the SPF has been very good – has been coming down quite considerably and has been  consistently low for many years. But scams and cybercrime have gone up.

Scam Situation in Singapore

5. In the last five years - if you look at the number of scam and cybercrime cases – they have increased more than 4.5 times, from about 11,000 in 2019 to more than 50,000 in 2023.

6. Last year, 2023, approximately $650 million was lost. In a small place like Singapore, that’s a lot of money.

7. The rise in such crimes has continued.

8. In the first half of this year, close to 29,000 scams and cybercrime cases were reported – that is an 18% increase over the same period last year (in 2023).

9. Among these, over 92% were scam cases, that is about 26,600 cases. The amount lost to scams also increased by close to 25%, to at least $385 million. That is reported, there must be much more that hasn’t been reported.

10. To put these numbers into context – what do they mean? It means that every day in Singapore, on average, there are more than 140 scam victims, and each of them loses about $14,500 in each case. 140 persons every day, losing about $15,000 every day, each.

11. Anyone can fall victim to scams.

12. There is a popular perception that these are usually older people, who do not understand, who are trusting senior citizens, they are the scam victims.

13. But actually, three in four of scam victims are below 50 years of age.

14. This is a serious problem. Many of us understand it, and the population is beginning to understand it.

15. The problem and the difficulty is that the vast majority of these scams originate from scammers outside of Singapore.

16. And they are typically part of criminal gangs – organised, and they run transnational operations, well-resourced, and operate across borders.

17. It is sophisticated. And in many cases, before a report is lodged, the money transfers through many different accounts and then it is gone, and not even traceable.

18. A global response is obviously the most effective way of dealing with scams. But it is not easy.

19. We have cooperation with several countries. And across jurisdictions, standards differ, size of country is different. But everyone recognises international cooperation is critical. But we have to assume that once the money goes out of Singapore, it is not going to be easy to get it back.

Whole-of-Society Effort in Scam-fighting

20. Domestically, the Government works closely with the private sector, including the telecommunications companies and banks to prevent scams.

21. And we have blocked spoofed numbers from overseas, introduced safeguards such as the Money Lock.

22. That allows customers to set aside a sum in their bank accounts which cannot be transferred out digitally without very strict authentication. Which means it is difficult for the clients to transfer the monies out, but that has helped to limit the losses to scams.

23. We have also introduced new legislation.

24. The Online Criminal Harms Act was operationalised in February of this year.

25. Police can now issue Directions to online platforms to prevent scam accounts and content from reaching our Singapore users.

26. Police can also require designated online services to put in place measures to disrupt scams and malicious cyber activities.

27. We have introduced new offences that gives SPF the power to act against money mules, and persons – a lot of them who abuse SingPass, misuse local SIM cards, to perpetrate scams.

28. But public education continues to be a key plan, because the best defence is really a knowledgeable public.

29. Last year, SPF worked with NCPC to launch the “I can ACT Against Scams” national campaign.

30. “ACT” is an acronym for Add, Check, and Tell.

31. The campaign has helped to increase awareness. The public can take steps to protect themselves.

32. Later this year, a new online game will be launched, called “#XiamTheScams”.

33. The game teaches players to identify and dodge scams.

34. Community partners like NCPC continue to play an important role in protecting our community against scams.

35. The NCPC amplifies crime prevention messages and works with us to create better solutions.

36. And you, the Crime Prevention Ambassadors and Cybercrime Prevention Ambassadors, play a very important role in the face-to-face meeting with residents, helping them understand, helping them protect themselves at various touchpoints.

37. Many of you here - volunteers,  business leaders,  community leaders, have partnered us in a variety of ways to help educate the public and help prevent crime in the various areas in which you wield influence.

38. We thank you for your efforts and ask that you continue working with us and   increase the resilience against scams and crime.

Announcement of New ScamShield Suite

39. Today, as you heard earlier, we are launching the new ScamShield Suite . It builds on our existing public education efforts.

40. It is a joint initiative by SPF, Open Government Products (OGP), and NCPC.

41. It was originally developed as an App to get members of the public to easily report scams, block scam calls, and detect scam SMSes.

42. From today, ScamShield will expand beyond the App, into a suite of four anti-scam products.

43. One , we will have an enhanced version of the ScamShield App.

44. In addition to its original functions, the enhanced App will enable users to check if something is a scam.

45. Second , we will introduce a 24/7 ScamShield Helpline – “ 1799 ”.

46. People can call this helpline to check if something is a scam, before they act.

47. Third , there will be a one-stop portal on scams, called Scamshield.gov.sg .

48. It will allow users to be updated on the latest trends in scams, scam variants, and anti-scam initiatives. Users can also use the chat function to check if something is a scam.

49. Lastly , ScamShield Alert social channels , available on Whatsapp and Telegram, will allow subscribers to receive scam-related alerts and updates.

50. This Suite will therefore help people better protect themselves from scams.

Conclusion

51. Now, this problem with scams, and in fact, crime, cannot be solved by the Government alone.

52. That is why the work of the NCPC, in educating members of the public, continues to be critical in our fight in this area.

53. I would really like to thank NCPC and every single one of you for the help you have given us.

54. Thank you very much.