Singapore Cracks Down on $456 Million ‘Scam Mule’ Problem

Regulators and law enforcement agencies in Singapore are taking steps to target so-called “scam mules.”

This effort was announced Wednesday (Sept. 17) by the Singapore Police Force, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Infocomm Media Development Authority, and Government Technology Agency of Singapore.

These groups contend that scams continue to be a major problem for the city-state, with 19,665 scam cases reported in the first half of this year, with losses of $456.4 million.

“Scammers rely heavily on local facilities to carry out the scams,” the news release added. “They often purchase them from individuals seeking to make easy and quick money. The scammers would then make use of these local facilities sold to them by the mules, to scam their victims of their monies.”

To combat this problem, the authorities say they will restrict scammers’ access to facilities that can be used to carry out scams, such as financial and telecommunications services and Singpass and Corppass, Singapore’s digital identity and authorization systems.

The release notes the rise of “mule bank accounts” used to move the proceeds of scams from bank to bank or out of the country, primarily via internet banking and PayNow, Singapore’s real-time payment system.

“Local phone lines are coveted by scammers,” the release continued. “They use the lines to contact potential victims, who are more likely to respond because the call or text is from a local number, given that Singaporeans now are more suspicious of calls or texts from foreign phone numbers. The local lines are also used by scammers to register social media accounts, through which they reach out to potential victims.”

Wednesday’s announcement follows a May report from the Financial Times that Singapore was considering the use of caning as a way to punish scammers. People in Singapore, that report said, are among the biggest targets for scams on the planet, losing a total of $1.1 billion (in the nation’s currency) last year.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has found that scams became the number one form of fraud in 2024, surpassing digital payment fraud. The share of scam-related fraud climbed by 56%, with financial losses from scams soaring 121%, the research showed.

“Scams now account for 23% of all fraudulent transactions, with relationship/trust and product/service scams responsible for most losses,” PYMNTS wrote late last year.

“These scams manipulate individuals into authorizing fraudulent transactions, often using deceptive tactics. Additionally, fraud involving compromised credentials, where individuals are tricked into revealing account details, is also on the rise.”