Singapore is cracking down on online scammers, and one of its new approaches is punishing culprits with at least six canings. According to figures that the Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs cited while talking to parliament, the country lost more than SG$3.8bn (US$2.9bn) to scams from 2020 until the first half of this year.
People who aid the efforts of the fraudsters, such as offering bank accounts or SIM cards, could face up to a dozen lashes as part of the proposed amendment. There’s even video footage doing the rounds on social media showing how the caning will work:
Common scams include romance fraud, crypto investment schemes, and illegal online gambling platforms.
Only last month, Meta and the FBI aided Singapore police in taking down an online sports and casino betting scheme that led to victims losing more than S$175,000 (US$134,110).
Another big problem is scamming centers where people are often trafficked to and kept against their will. Their passports are confiscated, and they are forced to work in compounds, where they attempt to steal money from unsuspecting victims.
In one case, a British-Cambodian businessman named Chen Zhi faces accusations of running such a scheme in Cambodia. The authorities seized US$115m in assets as part of the investigation.
