SINGAPORE - The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) will have a new Criminal Justice Division that will examine crime trends and propose possible reforms to improve the criminal justice system in the long run.

The Criminal Justice Division, which will be led by Chief Prosecutor Tai Wei Shyong, is a merger of the Criminal Justice and State Prosecution Divisions.

As part of the AGC's organisational changes which take effect from Friday, the Legislation and Law Reform Division will be renamed "Legislation Division" and remains helmed by Chief Legislative Counsel, Mrs Owi Beng Ki.

The AGC's Economic Crimes and Governance Division will also be renamed as the Financial and Technology Crime Division which will be headed by Chief Prosecutor Mavis Chionh.

This new division will bring the prosecution of cybercrimes under its purview.

In a statement on Friday, the AGC said it recognises that many financial crimes in today's tech-savvy, interconnected world involve cross-border transactions and the use of sophisticated technology.

In the first half of this year, police statistics showed that online cheating rocketed by more than four times to 504 cases - up from just 96 in the same period last year.

This included a twenty-fold spike in cases of people being duped into making multiple payments for Internet purchases. The scam typically involves buyers of smartphones and tablets being asked for more payments to solve delivery issues.