Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Number of E-Commerce Scams Per Month Since Launch of E-Commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings in May 2022

Question:

Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Ministry has data on the number of e-commerce scams reported for each month since the E-Commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (TSR) was launched in May 2022; (b) if so, what is the number; and (c) what is the assessment on the effectiveness of TSR in tackling e-commerce scams since its implementation.

Answer:

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

1. E-commerce scams are among the most common types of scams seen in Singapore. There were 4,762 cases reported in 2022 and 9,783 cases reported in 2023. However, in terms of average amounts involved in each case, the losses in e-commerce scams are among the smallest.

2. E-commerce marketplaces which have implemented the recommended safety features under the E-Commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (TSR), such as user verification and secure payment option, see significantly fewer scams. For example, following the launch of the TSR, Shopee progressively implemented user verification against Government-issued identity documents for sellers in December 2022. Subsequently, the number of reported e-commerce scams on Shopee went down by 65% in 2023.

3. Amazon and Qoo10, which have implemented all the recommended safety features, have seen negligible numbers of e-commerce scams. In contrast, platforms that have yet to implement Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA's) recommended safety features have continued to see spikes in the number of scams on their platforms.

4. Overall, we assess that the TSR has helped prevent even more e-commerce scams from succeeding. It incentivizes e-commerce marketplaces to enhance their safety features. It also educates users on the availability of safety features on e-commerce marketplaces, and what they should look out for when transacting online.

5. Apart from the TSR, MHA has worked with industry partners to revise the Technical Reference 76, the national standard for e-commerce transactions, to include additional anti-scam guidelines. And in June 2024, we published the E-Commerce Code of Practice under the Online Criminal Harms Act, which requires platforms that pose the highest risks of e-commerce scams to implement additional upstream measures such as user verification against Government-issued identity documents.

6. Beyond e-commerce marketplaces, we have observed scammers making use of other platforms, such as Facebook and Telegram, to perpetrate e-commerce scams. We urge all online platforms to create a safer and more secure environment for their users.