SINGAPORE – Cell phone customers can quickly bar all abroad calls, as a part of a brand new slew of anti-scam measures to come back in 2024.
Singapore’s battle on scams stays a part of the Ministry of Communications and Info’s (MCI) important focus within the new 12 months, mentioned Communications and Info Minister Josephine Teo in an interview with Chinese language-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao on Dec 18 on MCI’s digital priorities in 2024.
The authorities goal to work with Google to enhance anti-malware measures on Android telephones amid a scourge of malware assaults, and can arrange a job drive centered on sustaining cyber safety and digital belief inside Singapore, the minister mentioned.
Mrs Teo, who’s Minister-in-charge of Good Nation and Cybersecurity, mentioned: “As we speak, in case you are alert, whenever you see a ‘+65’ and you understand that it’s not an actual native name however that it’s coming from abroad, you don’t reply it. However you discover it very annoying.
“So, we’re going to make obtainable an choice for individuals who don’t anticipate to get any abroad calls within the first place to activate an choice to completely block all abroad calls.”
The transfer cuts off a key communication software for fraudsters as telephone calls ranked among the many high three strategies scammers used to contact victims, in response to the police’s mid-2023 scams and cybercrime statistics.
Fraudsters contacted victims by telephone calls in 3,908 circumstances and by way of SMS in 920 circumstances, police reported.
However the change is not going to rule out scams carried out on communication companies like WhatsApp – the platform of selection within the first half of 2023, in response to the police.
The measure follows years of warnings to cell phone customers to be cautious of calls with a “+65” prefix hooked up to the caller’s quantity.
“Talking as an individual with an aged guardian, I discover this characteristic helpful as a result of I can then activate it for my guardian’s cell phone,” mentioned Mrs Teo, including that the characteristic will assist weak customers from being tricked into selecting up abroad rip-off calls.
The authorities additionally rolled out the ScamShield cell app in 2020, which blocks incoming calls and messages in opposition to a listing of recognized rip-off numbers. Since 2023, organisations which haven’t signed up with an Infocomm Media Growth Authority (IMDA) registry are additionally flagged to cell phone customers as “probably rip-off”.
