WhatsApp, Telegram and other messaging services face new anti-scam rules in Singapore
The measures are part of a series of new and enhanced "codes of practice" issued by the Online Criminal Harms Act Office to guard against scams and malicious cyber activities, with the others covering social media platforms and e-commerce services.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) announced new anti-scam rules for messaging services such as WhatsApp and Telegram, with the measures intended to prevent unknown contacts from easily reaching users. These new anti-scam measures are part of enhanced codes of practice issued by the SPF's Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) Office to combat scams and malicious cyber activities.
The measures will apply to seven online messaging and conferencing services, including WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, Apple iMessage, Apple FaceTime, Google Messages, and Google Meet.
Among the requirements, platforms must obtain user consent before allowing unknown contacts to join chat groups or channels and display contextual warnings about suspicious accounts. Users will also have the option to silence, filter, or block messages from unknown or suspicious accounts. Additionally, platforms will need to prevent the spoofing of the Singapore government and address investment scams by requiring user consent before adding individuals from unknown accounts.
The SPF also announced a new code for Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, which will address the high scam risk on these social media platforms. These platforms will need to prevent advertisements that could be used to further scams, such as URL cloaking, and verify the identities of advertisers before allowing them to publish advertisements targeting Singapore users. These measures will be implemented by January 31, 2027.
Written by urgent.news from CNA - Singapore's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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