The Scam Public Education Office of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) held the Conversation on Safeguarding the Community with Actionable Measures Against Scams (C-SCAMS) on 28 April 2023 at *SCAPE. More than 50 representatives across over 20 agencies and organisations that work with youths, including government organisations, community groups, industry representatives, educators and students, attended the event.
The event was graced by Guest-of Honour Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of Social and Family Development, and Chairperson for the Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams (IMCS).
C-SCAMS
As part of SPF’s efforts to engage the community on scams, SPF launched C-SCAMS, a series of engagement sessions on scams with community partners. C-SCAMS aims to galvanise individual and community actions against scams by cultivating community networks that can work with the Police to:
- Shape anti-scam efforts for different population segments;
- Amplify anti-scam messages; and
- Co-create anti-scam initiatives in partnership with the Police.
The first C-SCAMS was held on 21 November 2022, with community stakeholders who work with seniors and working adults. The second session of C-SCAMS, held on 28 April 2023, focused on community stakeholders who work actively with youths. SPF will be organising more engagement sessions to connect with other population segments, such as migrant workers.
Engaging youths on scams
Contrary to popular belief that seniors are more likely to fall prey to scams, a significant proportion of scam victims in 2022 was made up of youths and young adults. According to SPF’s Annual Scams and Cybercrime 2022, those between the ages of 10 to 29 made up 33.4% of reported scam victims in 2022. As youths are more confident in their abilities to navigate the digital space, some may not see the need to take measures to protect themselves. Many youths are also relatively more open to risk-taking and may underestimate the possibility of becoming a scam victim.
During the C-SCAMS session on 28 April, the Scam Public Education Office shared information on scams in Singapore, the psychology behind scams, as well as actions the community can take to safeguard against scams. Participants also had the opportunity to discuss questions relating to scams and youths, including what the community can do to keep youths safe from scams, how to reach out to youths more effectively on anti-scam public education efforts, and how their respective organisations can work with the SPF and the National Crime Prevention Council to keep youths safe from scams.
Participants were also invited to provide feedback on the ScamShield app and share their views on how to further encourage app downloads. As of March 2023, the ScamShield app has been downloaded by more than 580,000 users. More than 7.4 million SMSes have been reported as potential scams, and more than 71,000 unique scam-tainted phone numbers have been blocked with the ScamShield app.
Rallying citizens to ACT against Scams
Scams continue to be a key crime concern. According to SPF’s Annual Scams and Cybercrime Brief 2022, the total scams and cybercrime cases increased by 25.2% to 33,669 cases in 2022, from 26,886 cases in 2021. The total amount reported to have been cheated from all scams also increased by 4.5% to $660.7 million in 2022, from $632 million in 2021.
Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of Social and Family Development, and Chairperson of the IMCS, said: “Fighting scams is a community effort and we are concerned with the youth segment. The data shows us that about a third of victims are aged 10 to 29 years old and amongst money mules arrested, young offenders also make up a large number. We thus need to work with community partners to empower our youths to take action to protect themselves against scams, and also warn them about the consequences of becoming a money mule. The youths today provided several helpful suggestions on how to further improve the ScamShield app which we will study further as we upgrade the app.”
The SPF will continue to work with community partners, including through initiatives such as C-SCAMS, to achieve a scam-smart nation.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
28 April 2023 @ 7:30 PM