An increase in internet fraud targeted to businesses and consumers in the Philippines was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most people choose to have online transactions to limit their physical interaction but little did they know that they are being vulnerable to internet fraud. This is a concern because it is potentially disastrous for the country's digital economy. 

 

Since its formation, the ASC received more than 3,300 reports and was successful in freezing 2,600 bank accounts, and recovering approximately S$3.7 million of losses. The ASC enhanced its operations by working closely with banks to swiftly freeze accounts suspected to be involved in scammers’ operations. The fund transfers involving such accounts would be impeded within a matter of days – a significant improvement in process, which used to take up to two weeks.

2) Tougher Anti-Scam Enforcement Actions

-To deter local scammers from carrying out their crimes in Singapore, the Police have continued to ramp up islandwide enforcement actions. In 2019, the SPF conducted 85 operations targeting local e-commerce scammers, resulting in the arrest of 112 scammers who were responsible for 1,223 e-commerce scam cases. In addition, there were 10 enforcement operations targeting money mules who handed over their local bank accounts to scammers or assisted scammers to conduct money transfers using their personal bank accounts. In 2019, 1,040 money mules involved in more than 2,100 scam cases were investigated.

3) Public Education Efforts against Scams

- Apart from enforcement, the Police have also continued to increase public education and engagement efforts with stakeholders, such as convenience stores, remittance agencies and banks, to raise awareness of scams. This included training frontline counter staff to spot signs of individuals who could be unknowingly falling victim to scams, and displaying crime advisories prominently at counters and automated teller machines.

 

Together with the National Crime Prevention Council, the Police have undertaken many scam prevention initiatives and organised many anti-scam related events to warn the public about scams, including the ‘Let’s Fight Scams’ campaign for community and business operators. Community events such as roadshows, festive events and the Community Safety and Security Programmes were also leveraged as platforms to spread the awareness of scams and prevention advice.

The department was responding to public complaints with regard to the ‘Receipt of Payment from Buyer’ posted in the official website.

JPP stated that it had never asked for personal and banking information from customers for any of its current services and urged the public to not share information to unknown individuals online.