Online messaging services such as WhatsApp and Telegram will soon have to make it harder for unknown contacts to reach Singapore users as part of new anti-scam measures.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said the measures are part of new and enhanced codes of practice issued by the SPF’s Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) Office to guard against scams and malicious cyber activities.The new rules will require providers of designated online services to put in place measures to proactively disrupt scams and malicious cyber activities affecting people in Singapore.
Separate requirements will also apply to social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, while existing safeguards for e-commerce services such as Carousell and Facebook Marketplace will be strengthened.
In 2025, WhatsApp and Telegram alone accounted for about 23 per cent of all scam cases, SPF said.
Investment scams are a key concern on messaging platforms, with scammers approaching victims through previously unknown accounts to offer lucrative investment products, SPF added.
The messaging code will apply to seven online messaging and conferencing services assessed to pose the highest scam risk to users in Singapore.They are WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, Apple iMessage, Apple FaceTime, Google Message and Google Meet.
Among the new requirements, the platforms will have to obtain a user’s consent before they can be added to a chat group or channel by an unknown contact.
They will also have to display contextual warnings or risk indicators when users receive messages or calls from an unknown or suspicious account. Such warnings could include the account’s creation date and country of origin, allowing users to make more informed decisions about whether to engage or continue communicating with the account.
In addition, the platforms will have to provide users with the option to silence, filter or block messages or calls from accounts or telephone numbers that are not in their contact lists.
The seven services will have until Jan 31, 2027, to implement the measures needed to comply with the messaging code.
Another key concern on messaging platforms is government official impersonation scams, with about 18 per cent of such cases occurring on WhatsApp in 2025, SPF said.
CNA
