Singapore Orders Meta to Curb Facebook Impersonation Scams Under Online Criminal Harms Act

Facebook faces an order as impersonation losses reach S$126.5 million

Singapore has ordered Meta to strengthen its response to Facebook scams impersonating government office holders, with a penalty of up to S$1 million for failing to comply. Announced on September 3, 2025, the order is the first implementation directive issued to an online service provider under the Online Criminal Harms Act, which took effect in February 2024.

Police figures released on August 30 show why authorities are intervening. Government official impersonation scams rose to 1,762 cases in the first half of 2025 from 589 during the same period in 2024, almost tripling. Losses increased to S$126.5 million from S$67.2 million, a rise of about 88 percent.

Facebook is the leading platform used for these scams, according to police. The directive requires Meta to address advertisements, accounts, profiles and business pages that imitate prominent officials, and to improve how quickly it detects and removes them.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming announced the action at the Global Anti-Scam Summit Asia 2025 in Singapore. He said police had concluded that stronger intervention was needed because of the platform's role in spreading impersonation fraud.

Goh explained the decision in these terms:

We are issuing the order to Meta because Facebook is the top platform used by scammers for such impersonation scams, and the police has assessed that more decisive action is required to curb these scams.

The order forms part of Singapore's broader effort to block scams before they reach victims, speed up reporting, pursue criminal syndicates, recover stolen money and educate the public. Authorities are seeking faster, measurable reductions in fraud affecting local users, especially schemes exploiting the names and images of public officials.

How fake endorsements draw people into scams

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and former defence minister Ng Eng Hen were among the public figures whose images appeared in fraudulent Facebook content earlier in 2025. Fake posts and advertisements presented them as promoting cryptocurrency investments or schemes promising fast money.

Wong warned the public in March about advertisements misusing his name and image to sell dubious offers or immigration services. Such content borrows the familiarity of a public figure to make an unfamiliar offer appear trustworthy.

Investigators have linked the increase in impersonation scams to social engineering and increasingly sophisticated digital manipulation. Social engineering means persuading someone to act by exploiting trust, fear or hope. Face swapping and deepfake style videos can make a person appear to say or support something they never did.

Scammers copy faces and voices, then place them in videos or static advertisements that appear to contain endorsements. Bogus news headlines and fabricated testimonials can make the presentation more convincing to someone scrolling quickly.

Fraudulent content using Wong and Ng often directed users to phishing websites that collected personal information or to payment pages designed to take their money. Phishing is a trick that uses an apparently trustworthy message or website to obtain private details.

Removing a single advertisement addresses only one part of the operation. The directive also covers the accounts, profiles and business pages supporting these campaigns, reflecting concern about how quickly fraudsters can return with fresh material.

Marketplace fraud adds to pressure on Facebook

Facebook's difficulties in Singapore extend beyond impersonation. The Ministry of Home Affairs has said that more than a third of all ecommerce scams reported in 2024 took place on Facebook.

Facebook Marketplace has also ranked weakest among major marketplaces in Singapore's Ecommerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings for four consecutive years. Officials and independent surveys have scrutinised the service over gaps in verification and user safety features.

Police and consumer watchdogs have described a familiar buying and selling scam: a fraudster creates a temporary profile, advertises attractive goods at a low price, then persuades a buyer to pay a deposit or the full amount outside the platform.

Meta has introduced stronger verification for some sellers, safety notices within its products and scam warnings in messaging tools. Authorities say these measures help, while calling for stronger and faster action against repeat offenders and the recycling of accounts by scam rings.

The two problems place different demands on Facebook. Marketplace scams exploit transactions between buyers and sellers, while fake endorsements exploit the apparent authority of a public figure. Both put pressure on the company to identify suspicious accounts early and interrupt their contact with potential victims.

What the law allows Singapore to require

The Online Criminal Harms Act, also known as Ocha, gives Singapore authorities several tools to reduce criminal activity online. Implementation directives allow them to require an online service to take targeted action against content connected to offences, including scams.

A directive can require a platform to identify particular scam formats, remove or disable offending accounts at scale, and introduce or improve systems that reduce exposure to repeated or especially risky patterns. Checks around advertising or account creation can also be tightened in sensitive areas such as impersonation of public figures.

The approach focuses on disrupting the reach of criminal content and shortening the time it remains accessible. Authorities can seek timely changes without waiting for lengthy court processes while victims continue to lose money. Failure to comply with an implementation directive can bring a fine of up to S$1 million.

Ocha also operates alongside a Code of Practice for Online Communication Services. Platforms designated under the law must meet requirements covering scam detection, reporting channels, preservation of data and cooperation with law enforcement.

Authorities can order corrective action and impose penalties when a designated service falls short of the code. The framework places responsibility on large platforms to build safeguards into their services and respond when harmful activity persists.

Meta points to detection tools and facial recognition

Meta says impersonation and deceptive advertisements breach its policies and are removed when detected. The company describes a combination of automated detection, trained reviewers and specialised systems for identifying accounts pretending to be public figures.

A Meta spokeswoman, responding to questions about the directive, said the company uses dedicated tools against impersonation and celeb bait advertisements, meaning scam advertisements that use famous people to attract attention. She also described investment in detection, reporting tools, safety features and advice for users.

The spokeswoman set out the company's position:

Impersonation and deceptive ads are against our policies, and we remove them when detected. We have specialised systems to spot impersonating accounts and scam ads that misuse public figures, and we continue to improve detection, train review teams and provide tools so people can report potential violations.

Maxime Prades, Meta's product management director, told the Singapore summit that the company had extended facial recognition safeguards to nearly 500,000 public figures worldwide.

Prades described the scale of that protection:

We have protected nearly 500,000 public figures around the world with facial recognition technology designed to detect impersonation at scale.

Facial recognition can help find copies of a public figure's face in advertisements or posts promoting fake endorsements. It can also assist efforts to remove coordinated groups of similar accounts that appear after earlier accounts have been taken down.

Meta says it has introduced advertiser verification, notices inside its products and scam alerts in messaging following earlier Singapore government calls for stronger safeguards. The company also says it works with law enforcement and takes legal action against criminal groups behind large fraud operations.

Meta's industry statements in recent years have described the removal of large numbers of accounts connected to scams across its applications. Singapore's authorities are pressing for those measures to translate into quicker, measurable reductions in the fraud most affecting people in the country.

TikTok receives a separate compliance deadline

Singapore police designated TikTok as an online service under Ocha with effect from September 1. The platform must comply with the Code of Practice for Online Communication Services by February 28, 2026.

Police say scam cases connected to TikTok increased by 240 percent in 2024 compared with 2023. TikTok reported removing more than 173,000 fraudulent videos in Singapore during 2024 and has committed to working with the government on systems to counter fraud.

A TikTok spokesman said the company supported Singapore's online safety efforts and would continue investing in education and protections within the application to stop scam content spreading.

The spokesman described that commitment:

We welcome the governments efforts under Ocha and remain committed to strengthening in app protections. We will continue to invest in education and awareness so our community stays ahead of scam tactics and avoids fraud.

Meta and TikTok both participate in the Global Signal Exchange, an initiative that shares information about scam activity across borders among companies and public agencies. Singapore's Government Technology Agency has also joined the network.

The shared signals can help participants identify recurring scam infrastructure and patterns as criminals move between services. Faster cooperation can shorten the period during which a new campaign reaches users and speed the removal of associated content.

Total losses fell even as impersonation fraud surged

Singapore recorded S$456.4 million in total scam losses between January and June 2025, down from S$522.4 million during the same period in 2024. The decline was S$66 million, or about 12.6 percent.

Government official impersonation scams moved sharply in the opposite direction. Their S$126.5 million in losses amounted to about 27.7 percent of all scam losses in the first half of 2025. A year earlier, the category's S$67.2 million accounted for about 12.9 percent of the S$522.4 million total.

Those figures show why authorities are directing attention to impersonation despite the reduction in total losses. A category that represented roughly one dollar in eight lost to scams in early 2024 accounted for more than one dollar in four a year later.

Officials cite sustained work by banks, telecommunications companies, platforms and regulators to block suspicious transactions, warn users and remove content as factors helping bring total losses down.

Fraudsters continue to change their methods, including through audio and video generated using artificial intelligence. That puts pressure on platforms to improve account verification, recognise suspicious advertising campaigns and coordinate quickly with payment providers and police when a scam is detected.

Goh told the summit that Singapore regarded the effort as a national priority requiring participation beyond government. He described the need for cooperation across society:

For Singapore, the war against scams remains a top national priority, and dealing with a threat as insidious as scams requires a whole of society approach.

The dates shaping the response

Singapore's September action followed the introduction of Ocha, public warnings about fake advertisements and new police figures showing the scale of impersonation fraud. TikTok's designation creates the next stated compliance deadline.

• February 2024: The Online Criminal Harms Act took effect.
• March 2025: Prime Minister Lawrence Wong warned about fake advertisements using his name and image for dubious offers or immigration services.
• August 30, 2025: Police released figures showing 1,762 government official impersonation scams and S$126.5 million in losses during the first half of the year.
• September 1, 2025: TikTok's designation as an online service under Ocha took effect.
• September 3, 2025: Goh Pei Ming announced the implementation directive to Meta at the Global Anti-Scam Summit Asia 2025.
• February 28, 2026: TikTok must meet the Code of Practice for Online Communication Services.

No compliance date for Meta's directive was given in the announcement described here. As of September 7, the central demand is for stronger detection and faster removal of Facebook content impersonating government office holders.

Platform accountability extends beyond Singapore

Thailand previously warned Meta that it could face blocking if cryptocurrency scam advertisements using fake endorsements continued to spread. South Korea and other markets have also scrutinised online fraud and considered penalties for failures to curb it.

Singapore's combination of directives, codes of practice and fines reflects a wider approach among advanced jurisdictions: platforms controlling large amounts of online attention are expected to install effective safeguards and act quickly when harmful content is identified.

Policymakers describe the goal as changing platform behaviour and reducing the time scams remain online, rather than punishment for its own sake. Enforcement can push companies to spend more on detection, advertiser verification and public education in the markets concerned.

For Meta and TikTok, the practical test is whether changes produce fewer victims, fewer fake endorsements and earlier detection of new tactics. Both companies say they support cooperation with law enforcement in Singapore and see value in sharing intelligence through initiatives such as the Global Signal Exchange.

Practical steps for users facing suspicious content

People encountering advertisements, messages or marketplace listings can help interrupt a scam before money changes hands. Reports also give platforms and investigators information they can use to trace fraudulent activity.

Public figure endorsements deserve particular scrutiny. Singapore officials do not use personal social media to endorse investment offers, immigration help or schemes promising easy money. A familiar face in an advertisement can be copied or manipulated.

• Examine the account handle and page history. Impersonating pages may be newly created, have little content or interaction, contain poor quality posts, or display comments that look copied.
• Check claims involving a minister or government agency against the agency's official website or verified social media account.
• Avoid links in unsolicited messages demanding urgent action. Type the official website address directly into the browser.
• Avoid paying marketplace deposits or full amounts outside the platform. Where available, use payment features with dispute resolution or escrow, which holds money until agreed conditions are met.
• Enable two factor authentication so that a stolen password alone is less likely to allow someone into an account.
• Report suspicious advertisements, profiles and pages using the platform's reporting tools. Reporting the item itself is often the quickest way to trigger a review.
• Keep devices updated and use reputable security software. Some scams exploit old browser versions or known security weaknesses.
• Contact the bank and police immediately after a suspected scam. Fast reporting can sometimes stop transfers and help recovery efforts.

Banks, telecommunications providers, technology companies, regulators and users all have different opportunities to interrupt fraud. Singapore's new directive places a specific responsibility on Meta to reduce the reach of impersonation campaigns before more people encounter them.

What to Know

• Singapore issued its first implementation directive to an online service provider under Ocha, ordering Meta to curb Facebook impersonation scams or face a fine of up to S$1 million.
• Government official impersonation scams almost tripled to 1,762 cases in the first half of 2025, with losses rising to S$126.5 million from S$67.2 million.
• Police identify Facebook as the leading platform for these scams. Facebook Marketplace has ranked weakest in Singapore's marketplace safety ratings for four consecutive years.
• Meta says it removes deceptive content and uses detection systems, reviewers and facial recognition safeguards covering nearly 500,000 public figures worldwide.
• TikTok must comply with the online communication services code by February 28, 2026, after scam cases connected to the platform rose by 240 percent in 2024.
• Total scam losses fell to S$456.4 million in the first half of 2025 from S$522.4 million a year earlier, while impersonation fraud took a larger share.
• Singapore's response combines platform requirements, financial safeguards, police action, recovery efforts, intelligence sharing and public education.