UK delegation visits S’pore to learn scam prevention and detection strategies

SINGAPORE – Singapore hosted a delegation from Britain on May 9 and shared some of the Republic’s strategies in dealing with scams, including prevention, detection and prosecution.

In a media statement on May 13, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Singapore is the only country that Britain’s Home Affairs Select Committee has visited as part of its ongoing inquiry into fraud.

The delegation – which included nine current British MPs and the British Prime Minister’s anti-fraud champion Simon Fell – called on Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling.

Ms Sun, who is also Minister of State for Social and Family Development, explained how the Singapore Government works with private-sector stakeholders to effectively combat existing and emerging forms of fraud and scams, said MHA.

The British committee also visited the Singapore Police Force’s Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) to learn about its work and capabilities.

ASCom is an operational set-up with bank staff and law enforcement officers working together to trace scam proceeds and freeze scam-tainted bank accounts promptly.

In 2023, ASCom froze more than 19,600 bank accounts based on reports referred to the Anti-Scam Centre and recovered more than $100 million, said MHA.

Ms Sun, who is chairwoman of Singapore’s Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams, said she had fruitful discussions with members of the British committee on Singapore’s best practices and potential areas of collaboration between the two countries on scams and other cybercrimes.

“Given the transnational nature of scams, we will continue to intensify collaboration with other international counterparts, such as through facilitating the recovery of scam proceeds and galvanising industry stakeholders to strengthen their anti-scam measures,” she said.

The chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Dame Diana Johnson, said a key area of focus for its inquiry includes understanding what other countries are achieving in terms of detection, prevention and prosecution of fraud.

Singapore has repeatedly been mentioned to the committee as one of the top countries in relation to its response to fraud and its public awareness communication, she said.

Ms Johnson added that the committee was particularly interested in visiting ASCom to understand how the Singapore Government, law enforcement and private sector actively work together to deal with fraud crimes.

“There are important lessons to be learnt from Singapore’s response to fraud, and we expect our visit will help inform and shape our recommendations as part of the inquiry,” she said.

The committee also visited other anti-scam stakeholders in the Republic such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, banks, telecommunications companies and e-commerce platforms.

Singapore is involved in international platforms calling for greater collaboration in the global fight against scams and fraud.

In March, it was among 11 countries that endorsed a statement released at the

inaugural Global Fraud Summit

pledging stronger collaboration between countries in the fight against fraud.