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Singaporeans lost record US$822 million to scams in 2024
Police said cryptocurrency schemes made up nearly a quarter of the losses
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Reuters
Published: 6:15pm, 25 Feb 2025
Singaporeans lost a record S$1.1 billion (US$822 million) to scams last year, with cryptocurrency schemes accounting for almost a quarter of the losses, the city state’s police force said on Tuesday.
The amount lost to scams increased by 70.6 per cent from S$651.8 million in 2023, while the number of cases rose by about 11 per cent to 51,501, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a report.
Cryptocurrency scams accounted for 24.3 per cent of total money lost, while the e-commerce scams were the most numerous, with S$17.5 million lost in 11,665 cases.
“The majority of the cases, more than 70 per cent, saw less than S$5,000 in losses. The increase in total amount lost was driven by a small number of cases with very high losses,” the SPF said, with four cases accounting for S$237.9 million of the losses.
‘It’s scary’: Asian cryptocurrency scams bilk tens of thousands of ‘brainwashed’ victims
The police said that while people aged 65 and above only made up 8.4 per cent of scam victims, the average amount lost per victim was the highest among the various age groups.
Of the total amount lost, Singapore’s Anti-Scam Command recovered more than S$182 million, the police said.
In January, Singapore passed a new law allowing police to freeze bank accounts of potential scam victims to prevent further losses.
