SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs said on Monday (Mar 10) that it welcomed Meta's decision to verify the identities of all advertisers amid an increase in the number of scams.
Under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA), the ministry had, over six months, assessed the effectiveness of Carousell and various Facebook services only verifying the identity of certain sellers.
The Act, which came into effect in June last year, targets online content used to facilitate scams and malicious cyber activities.
Sellers and advertisers using the four online services with the highest risks of e-commerce scams in Singapore - Facebook Advertisements, Facebook Pages, Facebook Marketplace and Carousell - were subject to verification against government-issued records. The platforms also had to provide payment protection mechanisms to users.
In 2024, Facebook made up 37.4 per cent of all e-commerce scams with 4,368 reported cases, while Carousell represented 17 per cent with 1,987 cases.
MHA said that the number of scam reports arising from advertisements on Facebook increased by about 12 per cent over the six-month assessment period.
It noted that while Meta’s verification requirements were restricted to paid advertisements, the police's statistics on scam advertisements comprise both paid advertisements and unpaid posts and advertisements like those on Facebook pages, due to the way data is reported to the authorities.
"Meta intends to verify the identities of all advertisers on Facebook by end-June 2025," the MHA said, adding that it welcomes this and will monitor the situation.
MHA said it had observed "a significant proportion" of e-commerce scams being perpetrated on Facebook Pages. Scammers would create pages under the pretext of advertising the sale of goods and services in order to reach out to their victims.
"MHA is working with Meta to introduce the enhanced verification requirement for Facebook Pages in 2025," it said.
Meta will be allowed to apply the verification requirements only to selected pages for a start.
Similar to its approach to the other Facebook services being scrutinised, the effectiveness of Facebook Pages’ measures will be assessed for a period.
"If the scam numbers do not decrease significantly, we may require stronger measures to be implemented, such as requiring Facebook to apply verification requirements to all pages," MHA said.
MHA said that the number of reported scams on Facebook Marketplace decreased by about 55 per cent over the assessment period.
"Given the significant improvement, MHA will not mandate the enhanced verification requirement for all Marketplace sellers," it said.
The ministry will continue to monitor the situation on Marketplace, and may require Meta to verify the identities of more sellers should the situation worsen, it added.
The number of reported e-commerce scams on Carousell decreased by about 11 per cent over the assessment period.
While "not a significant decrease", it showed a decreasing trend, said MHA, adding that the platform "has demonstrated willingness and proactiveness to work with us on various anti-scam measures".
MHA said that it would not mandate enhanced verification requirements for all Carousell sellers "for now".
However, the assessment period of Carousell’s pilot, which includes applying user verification on selected sellers and advertisers, will be extended by another six months.
If the number of scams reported on the platform does not drop "significantly" by the end of June, MHA may require Carousell to verify the identities of all sellers by Oct 1.
MHA said it will continue to waive the requirement on payment protection mechanisms for now to allow the four online services to "focus their resources on their other anti-scam measures, including enhanced verification".
"To be effective in tackling scams, the government and industry stakeholders must work collaboratively," MHA said.
"We thank Meta and Carousell for working with us in this regard, including through technical measures and public education initiatives. We look forward to our continued collaboration."
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Under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA), the ministry had, over six months, assessed the effectiveness of Carousell and various Facebook services only verifying the identity of certain sellers.
The Act, which came into effect in June last year, targets online content used to facilitate scams and malicious cyber activities.
Sellers and advertisers using the four online services with the highest risks of e-commerce scams in Singapore - Facebook Advertisements, Facebook Pages, Facebook Marketplace and Carousell - were subject to verification against government-issued records. The platforms also had to provide payment protection mechanisms to users.
In 2024, Facebook made up 37.4 per cent of all e-commerce scams with 4,368 reported cases, while Carousell represented 17 per cent with 1,987 cases.
FACEBOOK ADVERTISEMENTS
MHA said that the number of scam reports arising from advertisements on Facebook increased by about 12 per cent over the six-month assessment period.
It noted that while Meta’s verification requirements were restricted to paid advertisements, the police's statistics on scam advertisements comprise both paid advertisements and unpaid posts and advertisements like those on Facebook pages, due to the way data is reported to the authorities.
"Meta intends to verify the identities of all advertisers on Facebook by end-June 2025," the MHA said, adding that it welcomes this and will monitor the situation.
FACEBOOK PAGES
MHA said it had observed "a significant proportion" of e-commerce scams being perpetrated on Facebook Pages. Scammers would create pages under the pretext of advertising the sale of goods and services in order to reach out to their victims.
"MHA is working with Meta to introduce the enhanced verification requirement for Facebook Pages in 2025," it said.
Meta will be allowed to apply the verification requirements only to selected pages for a start.
Similar to its approach to the other Facebook services being scrutinised, the effectiveness of Facebook Pages’ measures will be assessed for a period.
"If the scam numbers do not decrease significantly, we may require stronger measures to be implemented, such as requiring Facebook to apply verification requirements to all pages," MHA said.
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FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE
MHA said that the number of reported scams on Facebook Marketplace decreased by about 55 per cent over the assessment period.
"Given the significant improvement, MHA will not mandate the enhanced verification requirement for all Marketplace sellers," it said.
The ministry will continue to monitor the situation on Marketplace, and may require Meta to verify the identities of more sellers should the situation worsen, it added.
CAROUSELL
The number of reported e-commerce scams on Carousell decreased by about 11 per cent over the assessment period.
While "not a significant decrease", it showed a decreasing trend, said MHA, adding that the platform "has demonstrated willingness and proactiveness to work with us on various anti-scam measures".
MHA said that it would not mandate enhanced verification requirements for all Carousell sellers "for now".
However, the assessment period of Carousell’s pilot, which includes applying user verification on selected sellers and advertisers, will be extended by another six months.
If the number of scams reported on the platform does not drop "significantly" by the end of June, MHA may require Carousell to verify the identities of all sellers by Oct 1.
MHA said it will continue to waive the requirement on payment protection mechanisms for now to allow the four online services to "focus their resources on their other anti-scam measures, including enhanced verification".
"To be effective in tackling scams, the government and industry stakeholders must work collaboratively," MHA said.
"We thank Meta and Carousell for working with us in this regard, including through technical measures and public education initiatives. We look forward to our continued collaboration."
Continue reading...