NationThailand/ANN-May 12
The Government is very concerned that more Singaporeans are falling prey to scams involving huge sums of money, and it is doing all it can to combat the menace, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. About $660 million is lost in scams annually, with Singaporeans losing nearly $2 million a day to such crimes, he said during an interview with the Chinese media at the Istana on April 28. “It is earth-shaking to be robbed of that amount daily, but it is happening on the internet every day,” PM Lee said. “We’ve done what we can, but it is still heartbreaking, and we are still thinking what more can be done to help the victims,” he added. PM Lee shared that he himself had been the victim of a fake website, where an item he ordered never arrived. “I’ve been scammed,” he said. “I thought it was real, but it didn’t come for a long time.” More than 90 per cent of Singaporeans have internet access. While it is important to have online connectivity to maintain a normal relationship with people, fake news and deepfakes have made it difficult to decipher truth from falsehood, he said. Children should be taught to ask questions when they see a piece of news, such as whether it is credible, who sent it, what is the motive of the sender and if there is a need to verify the truth with reliable news sources, he added. While he occasionally takes to his Facebook page to remind everyone to be careful of scammers, he cannot keep up with the fake news. The problem is widespread elsewhere, including in China and probably in the neighboring countries too. Their numbers may seem lower because many scams go unreported, PM Lee added. “In Singapore, scams are reported to the police, so there is hope that we can manage this problem.” Read more at: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/world/40037976
