Overall scam cases, losses in Singapore fall in first half of 2026
E-commerce scams were the most common type of scam, while investment scams caused the greatest financial damage.
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SINGAPORE: The number of scam cases in Singapore continued to fall in the first half of 2026, according to figures released by the police on Wednesday (Aug 26), continuing the downward trend that started in 2025 after years of increases.
A total of 16,821 scam cases were reported between January and June this year, down 14.4 per cent from 19,644 cases in the same period last year, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in its mid-year report on scam and cybercrime.
The amount lost to scams also declined, falling 17.9 per cent from a year earlier to about S$410.6 million (US$320 million) in the first half of 2026.
Cryptocurrency accounted for about S$65.5 million, or 16 per cent, of all scam losses, down 43 per cent from a year earlier.
Despite the improvement, scams remained the dominant crime type in Singapore, with online platforms continuing to be scammers' preferred method of approach.
In all, scams accounted for 91.5 per cent of the 18,391 scam and cybercrime cases in the first half of the year.
“While the scam situation has improved, the high number of cases and losses remains a concern, and tackling scams continues to be a national priority,” said SPF.
The police also flagged an increase in e-commerce scams, social media impersonation scams and business email compromise scams, even as several other major scam types recorded fewer cases or lower losses.
E-COMMERCE SCAMS
E-commerce scams were the most common type of scam, with cases rising 19.3 per cent to 3,865 cases in the first half of 2026. Losses from such scams also increased 18.9 per cent to about S$8.3 million.
Pokemon trading cards remained the top item involved in such scams, with related cases increasing 116.8 per cent to 605 while losses surged 172.4 per cent to S$1.2 million.
The police attributed the increase largely to a rise in pre-order scams, in which victims who found listings for Pokemon cards or other collectables on platforms such as Carousell paid either a deposit or the full price, months away from the promised delivery date.
"Victims only realised that they had been scammed when they failed to receive the products by the promised date, or when they came across online posts from other buyers who had been scammed by the same seller," said SPF.
INVESTMENT SCAMS
Investment scams, meanwhile, caused the greatest financial damage, with victims losing S$169.8 million across 2,256 cases in the first half of the year.
While the number of investment scams fell 16.2 per cent, losses declined by a more modest 5.1 per cent.
Police have observed a new trend where scammers impersonate entities such as National University of Singapore (NUS) and online brokerage Moomoo in online advertisements offering free investment tips or strategies.
“Victims who expressed interest by leaving their contact details would be contacted by scammers and invited into WhatsApp chat groups masquerading as 'investment learning communities' or redirected upon clicking the advertisements to contact scammers via a phone number and invited to join these chat groups,” police said.
Within those chat groups, scammers posing as mentors would provide apparently reliable investment tips and stock picks, while others posing as group members would endorse the “good advice”.
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IMPERSONATION SCAMS
Government officials impersonation scams recorded the second-highest losses at S$90.8 million, although this was down 31.7 per cent from S$132.9 million in the first half of last year. There were 1,363 cases in the first half of 2026, compared with 1,772 a year earlier.
The police continued to see victims being told to deposit cash through ATMs or physically hand over cash and valuables to scammers.
They have also observed a new trend where scammers impersonating organisations such as Singtel, YouTrip and Prudential would transfer victims to so-called officials from the Ministry of Law (MinLaw), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) or the SPF. Victims would then be pressured to transfer money to accounts controlled by scammers.
BUSINESS EMAIL COMPROMISE AND SOCIAL MEDIA IMPERSONATION SCAMS
One area that saw a sharp increase was business email compromise scams. Losses jumped 193.1 per cent to S$57.3 million in the first half of this year, while reported cases rose 67.9 per cent to 262.
Such scams involve perpetrators using spoofed or compromised email accounts and digital manipulation to impersonate businesses, suppliers, clients or people within organisations and divert payments to fraudulent accounts.
Social media impersonation scams also saw a rise, with cases up 47.9 per cent to 587. Losses increased 71.3 per cent to S$3.9 million, driven by a single case involving about S$2.1 million in cryptocurrency losses.
Of the social media impersonation cases, 391 involved scammers approaching contacts through compromised WhatsApp accounts.
They typically claimed to need an emergency loan or to be facing problems with a bank transfer before asking victims to send money to accounts controlled by scammers.
Victims typically realised that they had been scammed only after verifying with the actual owners of the impersonated WhatsApp accounts.
PHISHING AND JOB SCAMS
Phishing scams remained the second most common scam type, with S$9.6 million lost across 3,104 cases in the first half of 2026.
SPF said it continues to see an ongoing trend of phishing cases involving messages delivered through Apple iMessage, with scammers impersonating courier companies and claiming that parcels could not be delivered because of invalid addresses.
“Victims are directed to phishing websites resembling legitimate courier platforms and asked to provide their payment card details or internet banking credentials and authorise the transaction using their digital tokens under the pretext of paying a small re-delivery fee,” police said.
“In some cases, after victims were tricked into providing their one-time passwords (OTPs), their cards were added to Google Pay or Apple Pay or their bank accounts were logged in from unfamiliar devices.”
Job scam cases fell 17.3 per cent to 2,247 in the first half of 2026, while losses dropped 45.5 per cent to about S$34.9 million.
In such scams, victims are sometimes asked to like, follow, share or boost social media posts, accounts, product listings or online merchants in exchange for commissions. They typically received small commissions initially before being asked to pay more to complete further tasks or unlock higher earnings.
MOST VICTIMS TRANSFERRED MONEY THEMSELVES
About 80.8 per cent of reported scams in the first half of 2026 involved victims making the transfers themselves, up from 78.8 per cent in the same period last year, police said.
“In most cases, scammers did not gain direct control of victims’ accounts, but manipulated victims into making monetary transactions through deception and social engineering,” SPF said.
About 69.5 per cent of scam cases involved losses of less than S$5,000, while 4.7 per cent involved losses of at least S$100,000.
People below the age of 50 accounted for 64.4 per cent of scam victims, while those aged 65 and above made up 14.4 per cent.
Elderly victims lost an average of S$42,347 each in the first half of 2026, the highest among all age groups and up from S$35,374 in the same period last year.
MORE THAN S$97 MILLION RECOVERED
The Anti-Scam Centre recovered more than S$97.7 million in scam losses in the first half of the year, comprising more than S$89.7 million in fiat currencies and more than S$8 million in cryptocurrency.
The recovered figure refers to funds frozen in scammers' or money mules' bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets, rather than money already returned to victims.
The centre and its partners also helped prevent at least S$127.1 million in potential losses through proactive interventions with people at various stages of being scammed.
“Criminal syndicates continue to perpetrate scams in Singapore through local and foreign mules,” police said.
“The public must remain vigilant to avoid becoming unwitting participants.”
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