Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether there has been an increase in the number of artificial intelligence voice cloning scams in Singapore; (b) how many of such scams have occurred this year to date; and (c) how is the Government dealing with these types of scams, including in the areas of enforcement, public education and implementation of technological solutions to prevent their occurrence.
The Minister of State for Home Affairs (Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): The Singapore Police Force (SPF), has not been tracking the number of such cases. While we have received some reports, where the complainants had alleged that voice-cloning techniques were used by the scammers, the number is not high.
Regardless of scam typology, the SPF works closely with stakeholders, such as local telecommunication companies and messaging application companies, to prevent criminals from using our communication channels as conduits for scams. In 2023, more than 9,200 mobile lines and more than 29,200 WhatsApp lines, which were believed to be used in scams, were submitted for termination.
In addition, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) will soon be imposing limits on the number of post-paid SIM cards per subscriber.
As we have mentioned several times in the House, the fight against scams requires a whole-of-society effort. The industry needs to play its part. For example, social media platforms and messaging apps should introduce enhanced user verification measures to weed out inauthentic accounts and prevent scammers from abusing them to perpetrate scams. On its part, the public has to remain vigilant and take the necessary steps to Add, Check, Tell (ACT) against scams.
First, Add. Everyone should make a proactive effort to add security features to their devices to protect themselves against scams. For example, add anti-virus software and update our mobile devices with the latest security patches.
Second, Check. When receiving a phone call or message asking for your personal information, banking credentials or for money transfers, always check and verify separately, even if the other party sounds like someone you know.
Third, Tell. Tell the authorities about your scam encounters. If you suspect that you have fallen prey to a scam, call and tell your bank immediately and ask the bank to activate the “kill-switch” to protect your banking account. If each of us play our part, we can collectively have a better chance of reducing our losses to scammers.
Mr Speaker: Mr Giam.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Can I clarify how many voice-cloning scam reports were actually received by the Police in the past year? Secondly, there are now AI systems that can clone a person’s voice after listening to them speak for as little as three seconds. Scammers can use this cloned voice to trick friends and family members of these persons into transferring money to them. I recently checked the ScamAlert telegram channel and website, but do not see any mention of voice-cloning scams.
Do the National Crime Prevention Council and other agencies plan to educate Singaporeans about this new scam and how to protect themselves? For example, not assuming that the familiar voice on the other end of the line is the person they know and by establishing a common passcode among family members. Lastly, does the Ministry for Home Affairs scan the horizon for new scam technologies and start to take crime prevention measures before the first police reports start coming in?
Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. As I have said, the number is small. With regard to the education efforts and scam technologies, yes, we continue to update and also look at how we work with the different stakeholders in the community, including the public.
At the same time, we are also developing our capabilities. For example, we are developing technical measures in collaboration with the industry. For example, the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) has been developing detection methods for both video and audio deepfakes using artificial intelligence, including the capability to detect voice-cloning.
In addition, the Ministry of Communications and Information and Agency for Science, Technology and Research will officially launch the Centre for Advanced Technologies in Online Safety in the first half of this year. The centre will be a platform to bring together our community of research partners, companies and practitioners in Singapore to build capabilities for a safer Internet.
Such capabilities may include tools and measures to detect harmful content, such as deepfakes and non-factual claims, inject watermarks or trace the origin of digital content and empower vulnerable groups with resources to verify information they encounter online. So, essentially, we will do our part to enhance our capabilities as the scammers themselves do so.
However, as I shared have earlier, it is important for us to continue to engage the ground. I am pleased to share that even at the different Neighbourhood Police Centres, I can see the Police officers engaging the ground – from common layperson to people with knowledge of it – so that the whole society is being protected. Because I think for the scammers, this is an opportunity for them to commit crimes or to steal money from people. But on our part, we have to protect our people. So, we will continue to work hard to engage the whole society.
Ministry of Home Affairs
3 April 2024
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-3564
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 