If the trend continues, scams losses could exceed S$770 million by the end of the year. - ST
SINGAPORE: The scams situation here has worsened as the number of cases increased by 16.3 per cent, with victims losing a record high of over S$385.6 million in the first six months of 2024.
If the trend continues, scams losses could exceed $770 million by the end of 2024.
The annual record stands at $660.7 million lost in 2022.
According to the police mid-year scams and cyber-crime statistics released on Aug 22, the number of cases in the first half of 2024 increased by 16.3 per cent to 26,587, another record high, from 22,853 during the same period in 2023.
Victims in 2024 lost more than $385.6 million, 24.6 per cent more than the $309.4 million lost in the first half of 2023.
In 86 per cent of the cases, the scammers did not gain control of the victims’ accounts but had manipulated them into transferring money to the criminals.
At the media briefing, Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling said these figures are worrying.
She said: “There are a large number of scam cases which are attributed to self-effected transfers from victims, and this is concerning. Because this shows many of the victims were actually socially manipulated into transferring their monies into scam accounts.”
Sun said of particular concern were investment and government officials impersonation scams.
While the 3,330 cases of investment scams made up only 12.5 per cent of the total number of scam cases in the first half of 2024, victims lost $133.4 million, the highest amount lost of all scams.
This averages out to about $40,000 lost by victims in each case of investment scam.
But the average amount a victim of a government officials impersonation scam lost was almost three times higher.
In 580 cases of such scams in the first half of 2024, the victims lost $67.5 million. This averages out to more than $116,500 lost per case.
There was some good news with a sharp decline in the number of fake friend call scams.
It dipped by 38.2 per cent to 2,368 cases from 3,832 cases in 2023. The amount lost also fell from $12.9 million in the first half of 2023 to about $8.1 million for the same period in 2024.
Malware-enabled scams fell by 86.2 per cent to just 95 cases in the first half of 2024, down from 687 cases during the same period in 2023. The amount lost fell by 96.8 per cent from $9.1 million in 2023 to $295,000 in 2024.
Such scams were a scourge in 2023 under the guise of phone apps for food purchase, home cleaning or pet grooming services.
The assistant director of the police’s Anti-Scam Command (ASC), Assistant Commissioner of Police Aileen Yap, said anti-malware measures for banking apps, and enhanced protection features for Android phones by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore and Google, helped tackle the problem.
She said in the first half of 2024, the police worked with banks and prevented over $204 million of potential losses to scams.
AC Yap added that the co-location of staff from Carousell and Shopee at the ASC led to 2,700 scam-tainted accounts and suspicious advertisements being taken down in the first half of 2024.
Meanwhile, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, appears to be more cooperative in the fight against scams, after Ms Sun publicly called on them to do so in February.
A pilot programme to verify the identity of risky sellers on Facebook Marketplace and risky advertisers on Facebook began in June. The programme, which will be assessed by MHA, is believed to be the first globally.
MHA will assess the effectiveness of the measures on Facebook Marketplace between June 1 and Nov 30, and on Facebook between June 1 and Dec 31.
If the number of e-commerce scams reported on Facebook Marketplace does not drop significantly, MHA will require Facebook to verify the identity of all Marketplace sellers by March 1, 2025.
Likewise, if the number of scam reports arising from advertisements on Facebook does not drop significantly, MHA will require Facebook to verify the identity of all advertisers by April 1, 2025.
The police said more details of the pilot will be provided when it ends towards the end of 2024.
The police said Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were consistently over-represented among platforms used by scammers in the first half of 2024.
In the 7,737 cases where scammers contacted victims via social media, Facebook was used in 64.4 per cent of them and Instagram in 18.6 per cent.
In the 8,336 cases where scammers reached victims via messaging platforms, WhatsApp was used in 50.2 per cent of them and Telegram in 45 per cent.
The police said the number of cases perpetrated on Telegram increased by about 137.5 per cent in the first half of 2024, with most scams being investment scams.
About 74.2 per cent of all scam victims were youngsters, young adults and adults below the age of 50, with most falling for e-commerce scams.
The elderly, defined as those aged 65 and above, made up only 7.2 per cent of scam victims.
But the police said they were particularly concerned for them, as they could lose their life savings and are unlikely to recover financially from it.
A survey conducted by the authorities found that three in five people, or 64.1 per cent, were confident in their ability to stay safe from scams.
Two out of five, or 40 per cent, said they would never fall prey to scams.
The police warned, however, that this overconfidence was worrying.
They said: “The mindset that one is immune to scams is dangerous. People tend to underestimate the evolving nature of scams, and the diverse and sophisticated tactics employed by scammers.
“It creates a false sense of security and fuels complacency. It makes individuals less vigilant against scams in our daily interactions and not take enough protective measures to protect themselves.
“Our surveys show that while many people are aware of measures they can take to protect themselves, they tend not to adopt the measures, or merely adopt one out of convenience, thinking that it is enough to protect them from scams.”
Equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), the new ScamShield app can identify and alert users to potential scam threats across WhatsApp, Telegram and weblinks.
First launched in November 2020, the app previously worked only across calls and SMSes.
With AI, it will tell users if the message received is likely to be a scam when they upload a screenshot of their Telegram and WhatsApp message.
Developed by Open Government Products in collaboration with the police and the National Crime Prevention Council, the app has been downloaded over 950,000 times and blocked over 178,000 entities allegedly used for scam calls or SMSes.
David Chew, director of the Commercial Affairs Department, said the enhanced app allows users to leverage crowdsourced data to stop scams.
He said: “This reduces the opportunity for scammers to contact their intended victims. Fighting scams is a community effort, so download the new ScamShield today to protect yourself and your fellow users against scams.” - The Straits Times/ANN
