More countries working together to fight scams

Increased collaboration, speed vital to nab criminals, recover lost funds: S'pore police

- Wong Shiying

In an encouraging sign in the global fight against scams, more countries are setting up anti-scam centres to work together to tackle the scourge.

More needs to be done, however, for law enforcement agencies worldwide to collaborate efficiently on nabbing these criminals and helping victims recover funds, said the assistant director of the police’s Anti-Scam Command (ASC), Assistant Commissioner of Police Aileen Yap.

Speaking to the media on July 31, she urged every country to set up an anti-scam centre that would serve as a direct point of contact for countries to team up on scam-related matters.

AC Yap said: “Such outfits in each country can facilitate swift information-sharing, cross-border fund tracing and recovery. In many instances, by the time the appropriate agencies in a particular country got together to take action, most of the funds were gone.”

Scammers stole an estimated US$1.02 trillion (S$1.4 trillion) globally between August 2022 and August 2023, with victims in Singapore losing the most money on average (around US$4,000 per victim).

This was higher than the US$55.3 billion lost for the whole of 2021 and the US$47.8 billion lost in 2020, according to a joint study by non-profit organisation Global Anti-Scam Alliance and data service provider ScamAdviser.

AC Yap said anti-scam centres allow efficient information-sharing among law enforcement agencies, and this is crucial in preventing victims’ money from reaching scam syndicates.

Several countries, including Malaysia, Australia and Canada, have dedicated units to fight scams.

These units serve as a direct point of contact for law enforcement agencies to alert one another when scam proceeds flow into a particular country.