Singapore takes more steps to detect money mules through information sharing, cooling-off measures
The government is also exploring measures to address scams on Telegram, including ‘legislative levers’
SINGAPORE will put more effort into detecting money mule activities in 2025, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) will expand information sharing with banks on known mule accounts, to enhance their fraud analytics and enable them to uncover other mule accounts.
The government will also work with the industry to implement cooling-off measures for certain activities that are tell-tale signs of money mule activity, said Sun during the Committee of Supply debate on her ministry’s budget on Tuesday (Mar 4).
Sun emphasised that passing on SIM cards or bank accounts to facilitate scams is a crime that carries an imprisonment term. “Claiming ignorance does not get you off the hook,” she said.
The government has clamped down on mules as they are the main channel by which overseas scammers launder their ill-gotten gains and transfer them out of Singapore, noted Sun.
In 2024, the SPF investigated more than 8,000 money mules and scammers. Of these, more than 660 have been charged in court, and they face imprisonment if found guilty. The total amount lost to scams hit a new high of S$1.1 billion in 2024, up 70 per cent from a year earlier.
Stiff sentences
Agreeing with those who stressed the need for stiff and deterrent sentences against those who facilitate scams, Sun noted that the Sentencing Advisory Panel has recently proposed significant imprisonment terms for such offences. Since then, the courts have generally imposed jail terms in such cases.
The government will also consider the suggestion that caning be prescribed for certain scam-related offences, in recognition of the serious harm they cause, Sun said.
Meanwhile, the government will double down on efforts to develop tech solutions to deal with artificial intelligence-enabled scams. This includes expanding the Scam Analytics and Tactical Intervention System suite of products to disrupt scam enablers such as payment channels and mobile numbers.
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“There is one critical area we can do better in and that is our online space,” Sun said, noting that around 60 per cent of scams today occur through messaging apps and social media platforms.
The number of reported scams on messaging platform Telegram almost doubled in 2024, she added. The Ministry of Home Affairs is monitoring the situation and will explore further measures to address the scam situation on Telegram, including making use of legislative levers to mandate compliance.
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