Thursday, November 6, 2025 - Singapore is set to introduce
mandatory caning as punishment for scammers under a new amendment bill aimed at
curbing financial fraud in the country.
During the second reading of the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous
Amendments) Bill on Tuesday, November 5, Sim Ann, Senior Minister of State for
Home and Foreign Affairs, revealed that Singapore had lost more than $2.8
billion to scams between 2020 and the first half of 2025, with around 190,000
cases reported during that period.
“We will introduce mandatory caning for scammers. Offenders
who commit scams, defined as cheating mainly by means of remote communication,
will be punished with at least six strokes of the cane,” Sim announced. She
added that the move targets criminal syndicates that “mobilize significant
resources to conduct and profit from scams” and “have the highest level of
culpability.”
Under the proposed legislation, scammers and individuals who
recruit for or participate in scam syndicates will face between six and 24
strokes of the cane. Those who act as “mules”, facilitating scams by
handling illicit transactions, could face up to 12 strokes at the court’s
discretion.
The penalties will apply in addition to existing punishments
for scam-related offences. Individuals who supply tools such as SIM cards,
Singpass credentials, or payment accounts to fraudsters will also face caning
if they either intended for the tools to be used in scams, knew they would be
misused, or failed to take reasonable precautions to prevent their misuse.
Currently, Singapore enforces caning for more than 90
offences, with 65 of them mandating the punishment. Sim clarified that while
some amendments will change mandatory caning to discretionary caning in certain
offences, “more serious cases should still result in caning.”
Beyond scamming offences, the amendments will also
strengthen laws against the large-scale distribution of s3xual images or
videos, increase protections for minors and vulnerable individuals, and criminalize
the doxxing of public servants, defined as publicly sharing someone’s
private information without their consent.
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