The Singapore Police Force, Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS“), Infocomm Media Development Authority, and Government Technology Agency of Singapore have announced that they are working to implement new measures against scam mules to restrict their access to facilities which could be exploited to facilitate scams. This aims to tackle the escalating issue of scams, in which scammers often rely heavily on local facilities to carry out the scams, purchasing bank accounts, local phone lines and Singpass/Corppass accounts from scam mules.
The key features of the new facility restriction framework include the following:
- Restrictions: Under the new framework, scam mules may face the following restrictions:
- restrictions on access to banking services that could be used to move scam monies, including digital banking services, card-based transactions, and ATM services;
- prohibition on the subscription of new mobile lines; and
- restrictions on access to existing Corppass accounts and the use of Singpass accounts to register for services that are at higher risk of being exploited for scams.
- Affected individuals: The restrictions may be imposed on the following groups of individuals:
- persons who have been warned, issued with composition sums, prosecuted, or convicted of mule-related offences; and
- persons under investigation for mule-related offences and are assessed to be at risk of further facilitating scams.
- Timeline: The framework will be implemented in phases from October 2025, starting with the restrictions on access to banking services and prohibition on subscription of new mobile lines. The restrictions on Corppass and Singpass will take effect at a later phase.
- Enhanced penalties: Sentencing advisory guidelines have been issued that recommend enhanced penalties, including imprisonment, for offenders who commit scam-related offences.
Click on the following link for more information:
- Joint press release by SPF, MAS, IMDA and GovTech on restricting access to facilities for scam mules (available on the MAS website at mas.gov.sg)
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