Alvin Tan on protecting consumers from scams

From January to June this year, the police froze more than 7,800 accounts and recovered more than S$80 million in scam proceeds. Since the Singapore Police Force's Anti-Scam Command was formed in March this year, more than 4,300 scammers and money mules were either arrested or called up for investigation. They were suspected of involvement in more than 12,000 scam cases, amounting to S$101 million. Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) board member Alvin Tan gave this update in reply to an MP's questions in Parliament on Wednesday (Oct 5). He said the Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams (IMCS) has expanded its public education campaign to build public awareness and vigilance on how to spot scams. He said IMCS will continue to work with all stakeholders to deepen its public outreach. On its part, MAS is working with industry to finalise the framework for the equitable sharing of losses resulting from scams. The Payments Council has proposed a draft set of responsibilities relevant to financial institutions and consumers. MAS is finalising the framework in coordination with other Government agencies. Mr Tan said it is taking longer than expected to design a fair and effective framework that ensures shared responsibility across the ecosystem, as well as incentives for each party to be vigilant against scams. MAS aims to seek public comments on the framework as soon as possible, he said.