Authorities raise the alarm over sharp spike in internet scams

Online crimes almost doubled in 2015.

Singapore saw a staggering increase in online crime last year, according to latest statistics from the Singapore Police Force.

The number of online commercial crimes involving e-commerce fraud and scams such as credit-for-sex and internet love rose from 1,929 cases in 2014 to 3,759 cases in 2015.

The number of e-commerce crimes jumped 30.5% to 2,173 cases during the year. The total sum cheated was approximately $1.76 million, with the largest amount at approximately $40,000.

Meanwhile, the number of credit-for-sex cases jumped by a whopping 1,723% to 1,203 cases. The total sum cheated was approximately $2.9 million, with the largest amount at approximately $74,000.

A total of 383 internet love scam cases were recorded last year. The total sum cheated stood at $12 million, with the largest amount at approximately $528,000.

“Criminals will hide behind the anonymity of the Internet to prey on victims across national borders. Many perpetrators operate from overseas and use social media platforms to cheat victims in Singapore. Members of the public are advised to exercise caution and vigilance in the virtual world to avoid falling victim to online crimes,” the police said.

Overall crime in 2015 increased by 4%, from 32,315 cases in 2014 to 33,608 cases in 2015.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia