Singapore and Meta working together to eradicate WhatsApp scams

Singapore and social media company Meta have agreed to work together to eradicate WhatsApp lines used by scammers to scam people in the country.

In recent months, victims in Singapore were duped by scammers in scams. Scammers have duped innocent people with attractive offers and promotions on social media platforms. Singapore police aim to remove suspicious online monikers and advertisements.

Partnership between Singapore police and Meta

The police in Singapore and Meta, an American multinational technology conglomerate, are working together to eradicate WhatsApp scams and suspicious online advertisements from Facebook and Instagram.

The police in Singapore have said that scammers are “constantly evolving their tactics to prey on victims’ vulnerabilities. They often attempt to lure users with attractive offers and promotions on Facebook and Instagram.”

Singapore police agreed to take “timely enforcement action” over this matter. The police have also agreed to collaborate with overseas law enforcement agencies to eradicate scams.

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What happened to the victims?

The victims lost S$334.5 million (US$244.8 million) to online scams from January to June 2023. The number of scam cases also increased by 64.5 per cent.

People aged 20 to 39 fell prey to e-commerce scams, job scams and phishing scams. Scammers approached victims via WhatsApp, Telegram, phone calls, online shopping platforms and SMSes.

Between January and June 2023, Android device users lost S$10 million falling prey to malware scams. More than half of the cases – 55 per cent – led to the loss of S$2,000. 

Banks in Singapore takes anti-scam measures

Several banks in Singapore have taken up anti-scam security measures to eradicate online scams from the country. DBS Bank Limited – a Singaporean multinational banking corporation, United Overseas Bank Limited – a Singaporean multinational banking corporation, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation – a Singapore multinational banking and financial services corporation, and CitiBank have ramped up anti-scam security measures in recent months.

These Banks will roll out their own versions of a “money lock” by November. DBS’ digiVault and OCBC will implement a “money lock” feature.