SINGAPORE: According to police data released on Tuesday, in 2024, Singapore experienced a staggering loss of at least S$1.1 billion to scams—an alarming rise of 70.6% compared to the previous year.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) reported that the number of scam incidents surged by 10.6%, reaching 51,501 cases in 2024. This figure represented 92.3% of all cybercrime reported last year.
This marks the highest total for both scam losses and case numbers in a single year in Singapore since at least 2020.
Most scam victims suffered losses of under S$5,000, with the median loss per incident being S$1,389.
In their statement, SPF noted that the Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) recovered over S$182 million of scam-related losses in 2024, resulting in net losses amounting to roughly S$930 million. Additionally, through proactive measures aimed at victims at different stages of scams, ASCom and its partners successfully prevented around S$483 million in potential losses.
Notably, losses related to cryptocurrency constituted a significant portion of total scam losses, making up approximately 24.3% in 2024, compared to just 6.8% in 2023.
The most prevalent types of scams in 2024 included e-commerce, job-related scams, phishing attempts, investment frauds, and scams involving impersonation of friends.
When considering total monetary losses, the leading categories were investment scams, job-related frauds, impersonation of government officials, malware-related scams, and business email compromise schemes.
Last year, self-initiated transfers comprised 82.4% of all reported scam incidents.
According to the Singapore Police Force (SPF), in the majority of these situations, scammers did not directly access the victims’ accounts. Instead, they used deception and social engineering tactics to trick victims into completing financial transactions.
Scammers often contact their targets via messaging services, social media, phone calls, and e-commerce sites.
The police highlighted that three platforms owned by Meta—Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram—are particularly troubling, as scammers frequently misuse them to reach potential victims and perpetrate their schemes.
In 2024, it was noted that 70.9% of scam victims were individuals under the age of 50, including youths and young adults.
While older adults represented a smaller fraction of scam victims, law enforcement indicated that they experienced the highest average monetary losses per victim compared to other age groups.
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