Singapore to consider caning scammers in more serious cases

SINGAPORE: Singapore will consider caning scammers in certain cases, in recognition of the serious harm they cause, Minister of State for Home Affairs and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling said on Tuesday (Mar 4).

She was responding to a suggestion from MP Tan Wu Meng (PAP-Jurong) in her speech laying out the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) spending plans for the year ahead.

Dr Tan had earlier called for mandatory caning for scammers in egregious cases.

“We must send a clear message to scammers, the syndicates and those who abet them: If you mess with our people, make off with the life savings of Singaporeans, scam Singaporeans, we must do everything in our power to teach the scammers a lesson they won't forget,” he said.

Ms Sun agreed with the need for stiff and deterrent sentences against those who facilitate scams.

After the recent introduction of new guidelines by a sentencing advisory panel, jail terms have generally been imposed for offences which facilitate scams, going as high as 19 months in one case, she noted.

GOING HARDER ON MONEY MULES

Ms Sun also announced that efforts to better detect money mule activity will be ramped up this year.

“We have been clamping down on them, because they are the main way overseas scammers launder their ill-gotten gains and transfer it out of Singapore,” she said.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) will share more information with banks on known mule accounts, to improve their fraud analytics and enable them to uncover other mule accounts, she said.

“We will also work with the industry to implement cooling-off measures for certain activities which are tell-tale signs of money mule activity,” she said.

Ms Sun warned that anyone seeking an easy profit by passing on their SIM cards or bank accounts to strangers, while "turning a blind eye" to what they are used for, would be breaching the law.

“Let me be clear. This is a crime and there is an imprisonment term for passing on your SIM cards or bank accounts to facilitate scams. Claiming ignorance does not get you off the hook,” said Ms Sun.

Over 8,000 money mules and scammers were investigated last year, from 25 islandwide anti-scam enforcement operations by the SPF, said Ms Sun.

Of them, over 660 have been charged in court and will be jailed if found guilty, she said.

In one concluded case, a money mule had received RM1,000 (US$224) for sharing access to his internet banking account, without taking “reasonable steps to ascertain the purpose of this arrangement”, said Ms Sun.

The bank account was later used to launder more than S$160,000 (US$118,989) of criminal proceeds. 

“The money mule was convicted and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment,” said Ms Sun.

In her speech, Ms Sun reiterated that scams were a huge concern globally, and a scourge Singapore has been fighting for several years.

Despite efforts such as making banking apps malware-resistant and blocking calls from known scam numbers, the total amount lost to scams still hit a new high of S$1.1 billion last year, she said.

This was a 70 per cent increase from the year before, noted Ms Sun.

“Many people are rightfully very concerned about this, and so is the government. We must and we will redouble our efforts in this fight against scams,” she said.