Singapore introduced the Scams (Countermeasures) and Other Matters Bill in Parliament on August 4, 2026, to strengthen its anti-scam laws and address rising online fraud [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. The Bill targets online account mules who provide personal details to create accounts on platforms such as Carousell, TikTok, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other Meta services. It will be an offence to supply, receive, possess, or provide personal information used to set up online accounts for criminal purposes [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
Convicted online account mules face penalties including a fine up to S$10,000, three years’ imprisonment, and up to 12 strokes of the cane, marking a significant crackdown on those facilitating scams via account misuse [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Previously, Singapore’s laws targeted money mules and people supplying SIM cards or Singpass accounts for scams, but did not specifically outlaw supplying online accounts [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
The Bill also raises the maximum fine for online service providers that do not comply with codes of practice and police directives from S$1 million to S$10 million. For continuing offences, daily fines will increase from S$100,000 to S$300,000, signaling stronger penalties for platform operators who fail to curb scams on their services [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
Singapore issued two implementation directives to Meta in September 2025 and January 2026 requiring anti-scam measures. These led to fewer impersonation scams on Facebook, but government official impersonation scams more than doubled from 1,504 cases in 2024 to 3,363 in 2025. Such scams became the fifth most common scam type last year as scams overall accounted for three in five police reports [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
Victims lost a total of S$913.1 million to scams in 2025 and more than S$4 billion since 2019 in Singapore [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Criminals increasingly use artificial intelligence to generate scam sites, accounts, and adverts rapidly, which are hard to address through manual reviews alone. The Bill empowers police to issue anti-scam directions via computer programmes, including AI tools, enhancing their ability to disrupt scams [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
The legislation also allows secure information exchange between police and online service providers and strengthens restrictions to stop scam facilitators from accessing services [7]. The Home Affairs Ministry said, “Scams are evolving rapidly, and Singapore’s laws must keep pace. The Bill will strengthen Singapore’s ability to detect scam activity earlier, disrupt scam operations more quickly, and hold accountable those who enable or facilitate scams" [7].
