UK delegation visits S’pore to learn scam prevention and detection strategies

SINGAPORE – Singapore hosted a delegation from the United Kingdom on May 9 and shared some of the Republic’s strategies in dealing with scams, including prevention, detection, and prosecution.

In a media statement on May 13, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that Singapore was the only country that the UK’s home affairs select committee visited as part of its ongoing inquiry into fraud.

The delegation - which comprised nine current UK members of parliament and included the UK Prime Minister’s Anti-Fraud Champion Simon Fell - called on Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling.

Ms Sun, who is also Minister of State for Social and Family Development, explained how Singapore’s government works with private sector stakeholders to effectively combat existing and emerging forms of fraud and scams, said MHA.

The UK committee also visited the Singapore Police Force’s Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) to learn about its work and capabilities.

The ASCom is an operational set-up with bank staff and law enforcement officers who work together to trace scam proceeds and freeze scam-tainted bank accounts promptly.

In 2023, the ASCom froze more than 19,600 bank accounts based on reports referred to the Anti-Scam Centre and recovered more than $100 million, said MHA.

Ms Sun, who is chairperson of Singapore’s Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams, said that she had fruitful discussions with members of the UK committee on Singapore’s best practices and potential areas of collaboration between the two countries on scams and other cyber crime.

“Given the transnational nature of scams, we will continue to intensify collaboration with other international counterparts, such as through facilitating the recovery of scam proceeds and galvanising industry stakeholders to strengthen their anti-scam measures,” she said.

UK’s chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Dame Diana Johnson, said a key area of focus for their inquiry includes understanding what other countries are achieving in terms of detection, prevention and prosecution of fraud.

Singapore has repeatedly been mentioned to the committee as one of the top countries in relation to its response to fraud and its public awareness communication, she added.

Dame Diana said the committee were particularly interested to visit the ASCom to understand how the Singapore Government, law enforcement and the private sector are actively working together to deal with fraud crimes.

She said: “There are important lessons to be learnt from Singapore’s response to fraud, and we expect our visit will help inform and shape our recommendations as part of the inquiry.”

A delegation from the United Kingdom called on Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling (fourth from the left, first row). PHOTO: MHA

The committee also visited other anti-scam stakeholders in the Republic such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, banks, telecommunications companies and e-commerce platforms during their visit.

Singapore has been involved at international platforms to call for greater collaboration in the global fight against scams and fraud.

In March, it was among 11 countries that endorsed a statement released at the inaugural Global Fraud Summit pledging stronger collaboration between countries in the fight against fraud.