Singapore anti-scam law allows police to seize bank accounts
The law, which passed in January, allows authorities to halt bank transactions if there is compelling evidence an account holder is about to transfer money to a scammer, even if willingly.
Previously, police were powerless to stop potential scam victims from transferring money even if it was clear they were being cheated.
The restriction will see the individual's bank accounts, ATM access and credit facilities suspended, while still allowing them to withdraw funds for daily living expenses.
The law 'enables the police to better protect targets of ongoing scams', the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement on Monday.
'The restriction order is necessary for the protection of the individual. (It) will be issued only as a last resort, after other options to convince the individual have been exhausted,' it added.
The restriction had a time limit of 30 days that could be renewed a maximum of five times.
One example cited in parliament to support the law's passage was the case of a 64-year-old woman who was duped into parting with Sg$400,000 ($315,000) by a supposed lover.
So-called romance scams have ballooned into a massive criminal industry.
Countries in East and Southeast Asia lost an estimated $37 billion to cyber fraud in 2023, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report.
Data cited in Singapore's parliament during the debate on the law showed that 'self-effected transfers' accounted for 86 percent of all scam reports and 94 percent of losses from January-September last year.
Eugene Tan, an associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University, told AFP in January that while the law could appear intrusive, the government saw scams as a 'social menace that imposes a burden on society and the victim's family'.
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The Star
a day ago
- The Star
Indonesia seizes record US$590mil in meth, uncovers maritime drug route in South-East Asia
JAKARTA: Indonesia is on track to record the largest seizure of drugs by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) in six years, said the agency's chief, with confiscation of methamphetamine reaching 3.41 tonnes – with a street value of US$590 million – so far in 2025. This half-year haul has surpassed the total annual seizure in the previous five years. The latest raid in the waters off Batam in mid-May netted a record 2.1 tonnes of methamphetamine, a synthetic drug also known as meth. The amount can feed eight million addicts, with each gram typically consumed by four people. BNN confiscated less than a tonne for the whole of 2024, and between 2020 and 2023, annually netted between 1.2 tonnes and 2.8 tonnes, according to government data. Government agencies have also, so far in 2025, seized 2.65 tonnes of other drugs, such as marijuana and cocaine, with a street value of at least $95 million. In an interview on July 3, BNN chief Marthinus Hukom shed light on a drug-trafficking maritime route spanning Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. 'The production was in Myanmar while the vessel was built in Thailand,' said Commissioner-General Marthinus, referring to the meth seizure in May. Large-scale production of meth, combined with an ongoing war in Myanmar since 2021, has driven up the supply of the illicit drug in South-east Asia, said a recent report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Seizures of meth across the region were at record highs in 2024, totalling 236 tonnes – a 24 per cent increase compared with the 2023 haul, said UNODC. Meth, a powerful and fast-acting stimulant, can harm a person's heart, teeth and brain if used regularly. It can also cause paranoia, mood swings and memory loss. While there has been a slight decline in drug prevalence in Indonesia, it is still at a worrying level. Marijuana and meth are the two most-used drugs, followed by Ecstasy, ketamine, cocaine and prescription drug abuse. The number of police cases involving arrests of drug offenders in the first 11 months of 2024 stood at 53,672 – up from 50,291 cases in 2023, and 44,983 in 2022, according to government data. Marthinus revealed that for the large meth seizure in May, the drugs had been loaded onto a trade ship in the Andaman Sea off Myanmar. The vessel, Sea Dragon Tarawa, then sailed south through the Malacca Strait to the waters bordering Indonesia and Singapore. It later turned into the South China Sea, cruising off Kalimantan to drop off the meth packages for the Indonesian market, he said. The ship then headed into Philippine and Taiwan waters to unload more drugs. It later looped back to go back into the Andaman Sea, with the trip made several times. It was during one of those regular trips that the ship was caught near Batam, after leaving the Malacca Strait. Data of the trips made was collected by BNN from the vessel's Automatic Identification System satellites. Noting that drug packages sometimes fall off a vessel during trans-shipment, Marthinus said: 'Small boats pick up merchandise from the passing vessel. In the past, local fishermen have found drug packages floating on the sea off North Kalimantan.' The drugs dropped off near Kalimantan were taken to Java and Sulawesi, among other places. According to BNN's analysis, the drugs normally enter Malaysia via boats from Sarawak's capital Kuching and the Philippines through Tawi-Tawi and Mindanao islands. Singapore was not on the delivery list of the Sea Dragon Tarawa. 'We have cut the trade chain for not only Asean countries, but also Taiwan. We expect the drug rings will change their route,' said Marthinus, a former head of Indonesia's anti-terror police squad Detachment 88. Meth in Indonesia is commonly consumed by labourers, plantation workers, drivers and nightlife workers, while marijuana is typically favoured by youth and students. Another synthetic drug, Ecstasy, is commonly used in nightclubs, said BNN. Maturidi Putra, a former drug addict who has been clean for 10 years, said: 'The cure is as simple as returning to the life we had before we became addicted. Avoid the people and environment that led us there in the first place.' The 51-year-old entrepreneur is among scores of people who have returned to a normal life without going through rehabilitation. Denny Bintang, 39, an anti-drug activist who started a 6,400-member Facebook group promoting rehabilitation and campaigning against illicit drugs, told The Straits Times that many addicts are unaware of government facilities that offer free rehabilitation services. 'Many are also afraid to come forward and use the service, thinking they will be arrested,' said Denny, noting there is low awareness that Indonesian law recognises some users as victims, not criminals. He also noted that privately run rehabilitation centres are expensive and not every addict or the family can afford it. The average retail price of meth in Indonesia in 2024 was about US$135 (S$173) per gram, according to UNODC. Prices vary widely across the region, with the lowest prices reported near Myanmar and rising in places farther away. The per-gram street price is US$6 in Myanmar, US$79 in the Philippines, and US$68 in Hong Kong, the UN agency said in a June 26 report. The May raid on the Sea Dragon Tarawa was the result of a five-month intelligence operation, Marthinus said. The six-member crew – four Indonesians and two Thais – were arrested, and 67 cardboard boxes, wrapped in plastic and camouflaged as green tea packages, were seized as evidence. Inside the boxes were 2,000 smaller packages of meth weighing a total of 2.1 tonnes. Similar to a terror network, drug ring leaders target people from poor economic backgrounds to help them expand operations as they are easy to recruit, said Marthinus. 'In the drug operations, they are the sales agents, couriers... We map out the regions in Indonesia that are prone to be recruitment centres. We do our work from there,' he added. Meanwhile, the total number of drug abusers remains a worry, even though the figure has dipped slightly. Indonesian government data shows drug users in the 15 to 64 age group totalled 3.33 million people in 2023, compared with 3.66 million in 2021. Yogo Tri Hendiarto, a criminologist at the University of Indonesia, told ST: 'Demand dictates supply. The large quantity of drugs confiscated this year suggests that demand remains strong in Indonesia and elsewhere, while the country's low prevalence rate indicates that prevention and rehabilitation efforts have been effective.' But he noted that the lower number of drug abusers could be due to weaknesses in survey methodology. - The Straits Times/ANN
The Star
3 days ago
- The Star
One in three vapes in Singapore laced with etomidate; Health Ministry working with Home Affairs Ministry to list it as illegal drug: Health Minister Ong
SINGAPORE: The authorities are working to list etomidate, which is being abused via e-vaporisers, under the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA), Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Sunday (July 20). This paves the way for abusers and traffickers of Kpods – vapes containing etomidate – to be treated in the same way as those who abuse or traffic drugs like nimetazepam, also known as Erimin-5, with mandatory rehabilitation and jail time for repeat offenders. Currently, etomidate is listed under the Poisons Act. Under this law, abusers face only a fine. Sellers face possible jail time of up to two years. But with the growing trend of e-vaporisers containing the drug, Ong said it was now necessary to take stronger action. This will be done in the coming weeks, and is an interim measure till further changes can be made to the law to tackle the vaping scourge here, Ong added. The Ministry of Health is working with the Ministry of Home Affairs to do this. The move comes after one in three vapes recently seized here was found to contain etomidate. Speaking on the sidelines of the opening of a dog run in Sembawang on July 20, Ong said a third of more than 100 vapes seized during enforcement operations and tested at random were found to contain the substance. Ong said that previously, a vape would be used mainly for the delivery of nicotine. 'But today, it is a delivery device for a range of substances, from nicotine to psychoactive substances such as etomidate, to hardcore drugs that are illegal under the MDA as well,' he said. 'When that is the situation, it requires a whole of government effort to enforce against this.' Etomidate is a medicinal ingredient used in clinical practice as an anaesthetic agent and is classified as a poison under the Poisons Act. It was designed to be injected directly into the veins under clinical supervision and was never meant to be inhaled directly into the lungs. When vaped, it can trigger spasms, breathing difficulties, seizures and psychosis. Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said a third of more than 100 vapes seized during enforcement operations and tested at random were found to contain etomidate. - Photo: Lianhe Zaobao Ong confirmed that several deaths here have been linked to the abuse of the substance. He said: 'We have seen some deaths, traffic accidents, as well as unnatural deaths, where etomidate is implicated... it is a serious problem.' Listing etomidate under the MDA will mean abusers will be subject to supervision, and may be committed to a drug rehabilitation centre, he said. Ong urged those who are using Kpods to stop immediately. He said: 'I urge those who are consuming etomidate-laced vapes, give it up now, before the law catches up with you. It is very harmful, and the time to give up is now.' He added that a big challenge in dealing with vapes is the attitude towards it, with vapes having been successfully marketed by vape makers to young people as harmless and trendy. 'It's actually unconscionable,' he said. 'We are up against a mindset that might have set in among some young people, and we now need to counter that.' In a separate update on July 20, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said it will be extending the hours for its reporting hotline. Previously, HSA's Tobacco Regulation Branch could be reached only from 9am to 5.30pm on weekdays. But the hotline service to report vaping-related offences will be expanded to operate seven days a week, with extended hours from 9am to 9pm, HSA said. ST launched its anti-vaping campaign, Vaping: The Invisible Crisis, on July 13. Ong said of the initiative at the July 20 event: 'The Straits Times is on a useful campaign, in my view, to raise awareness about the harmfulness of etomidate, and also to urge agencies to step up actions. Many members of the public have done likewise.' When ST launched the campaign, several Telegram channels selling vapes became significantly less active. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the vape scourge. Kpods have reportedly been pushed in Singapore by organised crime groups, with local authorities now intensifying crackdowns. Public healthcare institutions have also been told to record all Kpod cases. Possessing, using or buying vapes carries a maximum fine of $2,000. Anyone who distributes, imports or sells vapes and their components can be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $10,000. Those found in possession of or using pods containing etomidate can be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $10,000. - The Straits Times/ANN
New Straits Times
6 days ago
- New Straits Times
Cambodia arrests 1,000 in cyberscam crackdown
PHNOM PENH: Cambodian authorities have arrested more than 1,000 people in raids on internet scam centres, police said Wednesday, as Prime Minister Hun Manet ordered a crackdown on cybercrime sweatshops. The United Nations has described Southeast Asia as the "ground zero" of scam centres, where workers typically use romance or business cons to defraud social media users of an estimated US$40 billion annually. Hun Manet issued a directive made public on Tuesday, telling law enforcement and the military "to prevent and crack down on online scams", warning they risk losing their jobs if they fail to take action. Over three days, authorities raided sites across the country, including in the capital Phnom Penh, the Thai border city of Poipet and the coastal city of Sihanoukville. Just over 1,000 suspects were detained, according to police reports, which continued to be announced late on Wednesday night. The vast majority of the reported arrests were foreign nationals – including at least 271 Indonesians, 213 Vietnamese and 75 Taiwanese. Many of those freed from Southeast Asian scam centres say they were trafficked or lured there under false pretences. Abuses in Cambodia's scam centres are happening on a "mass scale", Amnesty International said in a report published last month. There are at least 53 scam compounds in Cambodia where organised criminal groups carry out human trafficking, forced labour, child labour, torture, deprivation of liberty and slavery, the report said. In March, Cambodia deported 119 Thais – among 230 foreign nationals detained during raids on alleged cyber scam centres in Poipet. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime warned in April that the scam industry was expanding outside hotspots in Southeast Asia, with criminal gangs building up operations as far as South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and some Pacific islands.
