SINGAPORE – Over five months in 2022, the police participated in a global operation coordinated by Interpol to tackle cyber-enabled financial crimes such as scams, that saw about 1,000 suspects arrested.
Virtual assets worth more than US$129 million (S$172.8 million) were also seized in Operation Haechi III, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling in Parliament on Wednesday.
She was responding to a question by Ms Poh Li San (Sembawang GRC), who asked if more could be done with law enforcement agencies in other jurisdictions to arrest those responsible for scams.
Ms Poh had also asked if more resources would be deployed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and relevant agencies in the financial sector to tackle the growing number of scam cases in Singapore.
Ms Sun said Interpol plays a crucial role in Singapore’s fight against scams as it allows the Singapore Police Force (SPF) to collaborate and share intelligence with the international policing community.
Ms Sun said: “Where possible, the police work with overseas counterparts to exchange information and conduct joint operations to dismantle scam syndicates. In 2022, close collaboration between the police and foreign law enforcement agencies led to the successful takedown of 13 scam syndicates.”
On Feb 8, the police said scam victims in Singapore lost a total of $660.7 million in 2022, up from $632 million in 2021.
This means that almost $1.3 billion was lost to scams in the past two years.
There were 31,728 scam cases reported in 2022, up from 23,933 cases in 2021, an increase of 32.6 per cent.
Around US$55.3 billion was lost to scams worldwide in 2021. This figure was revealed at the Global Anti Scam Summit held in the Netherlands in November 2022.
Ms Sun noted that the SPF has been a member of a multilateral platform called the Asset-Recovery Interagency Network – Asia Pacific since 2017.
The network spans 28 member jurisdictions within the Asia-Pacific region and aims to increase the effectiveness of members’ efforts in depriving criminals of their illicit profits, she explained.
Ms Sun said: “As scammers are mostly based overseas, our efforts to solve scam cases depend significantly on the cooperation from foreign law enforcement agencies. We are keen to enhance collaboration (with these agencies), but this will depend on their capacity and receptivity.”
Haechi III is part of a three-year project to tackle cyber-enabled financial crime.
The first operation, called Haechi-I, began in September 2020 and lasted six months. It saw the SPF play a crucial role that led to 585 arrests and US$83 million seized.
Singapore was one of nine Asian countries that participated in the operation.
Ms Sun said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) also works closely with the Standing Committee on Fraud of the Association of Banks in Singapore to drive anti-scam efforts in the financial industry.
She said these include implementing measures to protect customers, such as putting in place an emergency “kill switch” for them to swiftly freeze their bank accounts if they suspect the accounts may have been compromised.
But Ms Sun said the best defence against scams is ultimately a discerning public, and noted that MHA has stepped up its public education efforts.
To address the scam scourge here, an anti-scam campaign was launched by the National Crime Prevention Council on Jan 18, urging the public to “ACT” against scams – add security features, check for signs, and tell the authorities and others about scams.
