Minister of State for Home Affairs and Social and Family Development, Sun Xueling, has called on online platforms to strengthen user verification to reduce the occurrence of fake accounts and better protect users from scams and criminal harm.
Sun Xueling made this appeal at the opening of the second Global Anti-Scam Summit (Asia) held at the Suntec City Convention and Exhibition Centre.
As the guest of honor at the event, she stated in her speech that the government, private sector, and international partners should communicate more to enhance security measures. "For example, all online platforms should implement upstream measures to protect users from scams. A major measure is the introduction of a user authentication process to reduce the occurrence of fake accounts."
She pointed out that online scams cause significant harm, and while online platforms respect user privacy and convenience needs, they also have a duty to ensure online safety and eliminate fake accounts.
"We thank Meta and Carousell for their cooperation with us, and call on other online platforms to take similar measures."
This year, cases involving Telegram have increased by 137% compared to the same period last year.
According to data from the Singapore Police Force for the first half of 2024 on scams and cybercrime, in more than half of the cases, scammers contacted victims through Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram.
Among these, cases involving Telegram increased by 137% compared to the same period last year; criminal activities on Telegram far exceed scams, making it a particularly noteworthy platform.
Telegram recently announced that if the relevant authorities provide valid legal documents and confirm that a user is suspected of violating its terms in a criminal case, the platform will hand over the user's IP address and phone number.
Sun Xueling said that although this is a good start, it is often too late when law enforcement gets involved, and victims have already suffered losses. "We call on Telegram to strengthen upstream measures, enhance user authentication measures, prevent criminals from using their accounts, and tighten control over chat groups and channels to prevent victims from being added to chat groups and channels by scammers."
This two-day event is organized by the non-profit Global Anti Scam Alliance (GASA), supported by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Singapore Police Force, and the Ministry of Digital Development and News, attracting officials from different regions around the world such as Hong Kong, South Korea, and the United States, as well as private enterprises like Google, to discuss various anti-scam topics.
