Singapore is tightening safeguards on major messaging, social media and e-commerce platforms, requiring them to take stronger measures to detect, disrupt and prevent scams targeting users in the city-state.

Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a statement on Tuesday that it has issued the Codes of Practice (COPs) for designated online services on Monday. This included a new COP for Online Messaging and Conferencing Services, a new COP for Social Media Services which replaces the existing COP for Online Communication Services; and an enhanced COP for E-Commerce Service.

“These COPs strengthen our safeguards against scams by requiring providers of designated online services to put in place measures to proactively disrupt scams and malicious cyber activities affecting people in Singapore,” said SPF.

SPF noted that in 2025, online messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram alone accounted for about 23 percent of total scam cases.

To address this situation, the Messaging Code will be introduced and applied to the following designated online messaging and conferencing services that pose the highest risk of scams to users in Singapore, these included WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, Apple iMessage, Apple FaceTime, Google Message and Google Meet.

According to SPF, investment scams are a key concern on online messaging platforms. In this variant, scammers approach victims using accounts not previously known to the victim (unknown contact) to offer lucrative investment products.

To address this, the Messaging Code will require online messaging platforms to implement measures to make it more difficult for unknown contacts to engage users, or alert users to potential scam risk posed by unknown contacts.

Some examples of these requirements included the requirement of the end-user’s consent before the end-user can be added into a chat group or channel by an unknown contact, and display contextual warnings or risk indicators when receiving messages or calls from an unknown or suspicious account.

For example, showing the account creation date and country of origin of an unknown or suspicious account to the end-user, so that they can make informed decisions on whether to engage or continue communication with such accounts.

They also provide end-users with the option to silence, filter or block messages or calls originating from accounts or telephone numbers that are not present in the end-user’s contact list.

SPF highlighted that Government Officials Impersonation Scams (GOIS) is another key concern for online messaging platforms.

In 2025, about 18 percent of GOIS cases took place on WhatsApp. SPF has also observed other messaging platforms such as Google Meet being used to perpetrate phishing scams involving the impersonation of Police Officers.

To address this, the Messaging Code will introduce requirements to prevent the spoofing of the Singapore Government through profile names or pictures.

SPF’s Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) Office will also introduce a new Social Media Code for Social Media platforms.

It is noted that in 2025, social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounted for about 30 percent of total scam cases. Facebook alone accounted for about 18 percent of total scam cases.

Thus, the new Social Media Code will be applied to the following Social Media services which pose the highest scam risk to users in Singapore, which included Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

According to the statement, a key concern on Social Media platforms is the use of advertisements to target potential victims.

“Social Media platforms profit from the publication of advertisements and must ensure that the content in the advertisement is not in furtherance of a crime,” said SPF.

To address this, the Social Media Code will include requirements to prevent the publication of any advertisement that is accessible to Singapore users if there is reason to suspect that the advertisement is in furtherance of a scam. This includes assessing whether the advertisement has adopted URL cloaking to hide a destination website’s URL, or otherwise has suspicious content.

They will also promptly remove suspected scam advertisements that are accessible to Singapore users, including those reported by users; verify advertisers’ identities by conducting checks against government-issued records before advertisers targeting Singapore users are permitted to publish any advertisement on their platforms; disallow the publication of advertisements offering financial services and/or products to Singapore users unless the advertisers are licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) or other applicable Singapore authorities or a licensed authority to do so in Singapore.

Meanwhile, the enhanced E-Commerce Code builds upon existing requirements for seller verification and payment protection.

Designated e-commerce platforms including Carousell, Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Business Pages will be required to introduce stronger consent measures before permitting logins from new or unrecognized devices.

The enhanced E-Commerce Code also adopts the safeguards introduced in the Social Media Code to protect end-users against the exploitation of online advertisements by scam actors.

All platforms must comply with the new requirements by Jan. 31, 2027.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has also proposed legislative amendments in Parliament in August 2026 to strengthen the OCHA penalty framework. Under the proposed framework, for each instance of non-compliance with a Code of Practice or Implementation Directive, the OCHA Office may issue a financial penalty not exceeding S$10 million ($7.83 million); or direct the online platform to rectify the non-compliance through a Rectification Notice (RN) or a Compliance Order (CO).

“Failure to comply with an RN or CO without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence, punishable with a fine not exceeding S$10 million and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding S$300,000 for every day or part of day during which the offence continues after conviction,” said SPF.

SPF also said these measures build on the existing COPs introduced in June 2024 and reflect the government’s continued partnership with industry to keep pace with the evolving online threat landscape.

It is noted that scam cases reported on designated online services fell by about 37 percent between 2024 and 2025.

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