Singapore tightens scam protections with cooling-off measures, information sharing

The government will prioritise improving authentication methods for bank accounts.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) will expand information sharing with banks on known mule accounts to enhance fraud analytics and help banks identify other mule accounts, according to Minister of Home Affairs Sun Xueling.

The ministry will also work with the industry to implement cooling-off measures for certain activities that are tell-tale signs of money mule activity.

In addition, the passing of sims or bank accounts to strangers to facilitate scams will come with an imprisonment term.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is also working with banks to introduce cooling-off periods for high-risk transactions, such as requests to increase transaction limits or to change contact details.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is currently studying stronger authentication solutions, such as Fast IDentity Online (FIDO)-compliant hardware tokens, to defend against malware and phishing.

In 2024, the SPF conducted 25 island-wide anti-scam enforcement operations, leading to the investigation of more than 8,000 money mules and scammers. More than 660 have been charged in Court and they face imprisonment if found guilty.

“We will continue to proactively strengthen our defences. One priority is to improve the authentication methods that banks use to protect accounts against malware and phishing,” Sun said.

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