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Established on 1 February 2024, the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) Office is responsible for administering the OCHA. Its key role is to work with Online Service Providers (OSPs) to implement measures to prevent and disrupt online activities that further the commission of criminal offences on their platforms. Such activities include scams, unlicensed moneylending, illegal sexual content and illegal gambling.
Efforts by the OCHA Office have helped to enhance online safety for users and contributed to a decrease of 21.5% in scam and cybercrime cases from January to June 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.
Police Life caught up with two officers from the OCHA Office – Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Benny Leung, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Intervention and Compliance Management (I&CM), and Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ee Sze Min, Staff Officer (Policy). They take us behind the scenes!
DSP Benny Leung: Disrupting Cybercrime
DSP Leung’s decision to join the OCHA Office in December 2024 was a logical step forward – after all, he contributed to cybercrime prevention during his stint in the Technology Crime Division (current Cyber Crime Division) under the Criminal Investigation Department.
“As I learnt more about the purpose and role of the OCHA Office, I felt drawn to its meaningful work,” he says. “I knew my experience in cybercrime prevention could help protect people from malicious cyber activities.”
DSP Leung supervises a team of compliance management officers. Their role ensures that directions issued under the OCHA meet legal and policy requirements, and are complied with.
“In the event of non-compliance, we can issue an order to internet service providers or app stores to restrict access to websites and apps,” he explains. “However, such orders are only issued when necessary. The OCHA Office has close partnerships with OSPs, government agencies and other Police units, and we work together to tackle online criminal harms.”
Given today’s fast-evolving online landscape, DSP Leung is constantly exploring new ways to enhance his team’s effectiveness. “We’re exploring Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation to automate certain work processes and monitor the compliance of issued directions more efficiently.” he shares. “We also work with our Policy team to ensure that our new capabilities are subject to the necessary legal and policy requirements.”
Since the OCHA was operationalised, the Police have been able to disrupt online criminal activities more quickly. But DSP Leung is committed to doing more.
“Online harms are constantly evolving and what we know today may not be applicable tomorrow,” he says. “This means that we must continuously find new solutions to keep up with online criminal activities and contribute towards online safety for Singapore users.”
ASP Ee Sze Min: Laying the Groundwork for Online Safety
Like DSP Leung, ASP Ee was a member of the OCHA Office’s pioneering team. She helped set up the Office in June 2023 and contributed towards its operationalisation in February 2024.
She relished the challenge of establishing an entirely new unit and shaping its growth and culture from the ground up. “This work strengthens my resolve to make a difference,” she says. “I realise this by collaborating with OSPs to put in place upstream measures to detect and disrupt online criminal activity.”
As Staff Officer (Policy), ASP Ee works closely with Police units and other agencies to develop policies and processes for administering the OCHA. “As the staff authority for all OCHA-administration matters, we help agencies set up processes and workflows to use OCHA levers,” she explains.
ASP Ee has become adept at managing the interface between legislation, policy and public communications, as well as its application to the OSP sector. “It takes much self-directed learning and discussion with various stakeholders to achieve this while on the job,” she says.
ASP Ee’s greatest satisfaction comes from supporting the growth of the OCHA Office. “The OCHA Office is like a start-up that’s growing from strength to strength,” she explains. “The most rewarding part was playing a key role in its development, and I hope that we’ll continue to do impactful work and further enhance online safety.”
