SINGAPORE \u2013 Young scam mules could soon face jail or reformative training (RT) as the default punishment rather than probation, under a proposed law to reinforce the Government\u2019s deterrent stance against such offences.<\/p>\n
On Nov 3, the Sentencing (Scams) Bill was introduced in Parliament following a recent High Court ruling that favoured rehabilitative options for young scam offenders.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The High Court in September allowed the appeals of four young scam offenders who had been given RT, and instead ordered them to be placed on probation ranging from a year to 18 months. These four committed their offences while under the age of 21.<\/p>\n Probation allows offenders to serve their sentences in the community under conditions like curfews and supervision without incurring a criminal record.<\/p>\n Those sentenced to RT are detained in a centre to undergo strict regimens, including foot drills and counselling. An RT sentence leaves a criminal record.<\/p>\n The High Court also dismissed an appeal by the prosecution against a 17-year-old mule who was sentenced to a short detention order and community service instead of RT.<\/p>\n The High Court judgment, issued by a three-judge panel comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Ang Cheng Hock and Justice Hoo Sheau Peng, ruled that RT or jail time should not be the default sentence for young scam mules.<\/p>\n On Nov 3, the Sentencing (Scams) Bill was introduced as the court\u2019s decision was inconsistent with Parliament\u2019s deterrent stance against scam offences.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the Bill will reiterate Parliament\u2019s intention that people aged 21 and below who commit scam offences should face RT or jail time, rather than probation or other rehabilitative options, as the primary or default options unless there are exceptional circumstances.<\/p>\n MHA said: \u201cIf a deterrent approach is not taken, Singapore\u2019s scam and youth offending situation could deteriorate.\u201d<\/p>\n The appeals of two other offenders, who were treated as adults, were dismissed.<\/p>\n One was between 20 and 22 years old when he surrendered his bank account and committed cheating. His sentence of 14 weeks\u2019 jail was upheld.<\/p>\n The other was 27 years old when she committed three scam-related offences. Her sentence of seven months and two weeks\u2019 jail and a $500 fine was upheld.<\/p>\n The decisions in these seven cases are final and will not be affected by the proposed law.<\/p>\n Scam victims in Singapore\u00a0have lost more than <\/i><\/b>$4 billion since\u00a02019, with $913.1 million lost to scammers in 2025. A record $1.1 billion was lost in 2024.<\/p>\n MHA said scams remain the most prevalent crime type in Singapore, with the police receiving around 90 scam reports amounting to $2 million in losses daily in the first half of 2026.<\/p>\n In 2025, the police investigated more than 1,000 young people in connection with scam reports.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the number of young people who committed cheating and related offences rose by 37%, from 814 in 2024 to 1,114 in 2025. Most were scam mules.<\/p>\n MHA said: \u201cWe need to do more to deter young offenders from being enticed by the prospect of quick financial gains to commit such offences.\u201d<\/p>\n Since 2023, Parliament has passed five Bills to deter scams and related offences.<\/p>\n These include the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) (Amendment) Bill that introduced new offences to clamp down on money mules.<\/p>\n To make it easier to prosecute those who sell their Singpass accounts<\/span><\/a> to scammers, the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill was passed.<\/p>\n Both Bills were passed in May 2023.<\/p>\n Parliament passed the Law Enforcement and Other Matters Bill in April 2024 to address the misuse of SIM cards for scams.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n It also passed the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill in November 2025 to introduce caning for scammers and for members and recruiters of scam syndicates.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The Scams (Countermeasures) and Other Matters Bill was passed in September 2026 to tackle the misuse of online accounts for scams.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Parliament had previously passed laws to address judgments that were inconsistent with the Government\u2019s policy intent.<\/p>\n One example was the City Harvest Church case in 2018, in which the Court of Appeal decided that aggravated criminal breach of trust applied only to professional agents.<\/p>\n In 2019, Parliament amended the Penal Code to expand the aggravated criminal breach of trust provision so that it would apply not only to those holding specified professional positions, but more broadly to those entrusted with property in circumstances warranting higher punishment.<\/p>\n To reflect Parliament\u2019s intent, MHA said it worked with the Sentencing Advisory Panel, which includes representatives from the Ministry of Law and the judiciary, to lay down clear sentencing guidelines for scam offences.<\/p>\n According to the guidelines, imprisonment or RT should be considered for all offenders, even if they are below 21, except those dealt with in the Youth Court. This is given the need for deterrence and public interest in suppressing scams.<\/p>\n MHA said the legislation will apply to the sentencing of scam and scam-enabling offences committed before, on or after the Act\u2019s commencement date.<\/p>\n Scams have inflicted more than monetary losses on victims, with some dying by suicide.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/figure>\n The police had previously cited the case of a man who had lost his life savings after falling for a tech support scam.<\/p>\n He took his nine-year-old daughter to stay at his brother\u2019s home for the night and said he would be back the next day.<\/p>\n He was later found with self-inflicted injuries, and died several days later.<\/p>\n In 2021, a police full-time national serviceman<\/span><\/a> took his own life after being scammed of $10,000.<\/p>\n MHA said: \u201cScams cause serious harm to victims and must be met with a strong deterrent message. The Bill reinforces the message that scammers and those who facilitate scams should generally face deterrent sentences.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 Young scam mules could soon face jail or reformative training (RT) as the default punishment rather than probation, under a proposed law to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/97843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Targeting mules<\/h2>\n
Scams kill<\/h2>\n
<\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n
Read Full Article At Source <\/a>
\n