SINGAPORE: Singapore police have ordered Meta to implement anti-scam measures against advertisements, accounts, profiles and business pages impersonating key government office holders on its social media network Facebook.
The company could be fined up to one million Singapore dollars if it fails to comply as part of the first such order under the nation’s new Online Criminal Harms Act.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming said Facebook is the top platform used by scammers for such impersonation scams requiring more decisive action.
Meta did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Singapore’s home affairs ministry found more than a third of all e-commerce scams reported in 2024 were perpetrated on Facebook.
It also rated Facebook Marketplace as the weakest among six e-commerce marketplaces in terms of anti-scam features deployed.
Police statistics showed scams involving impersonation of government officials almost tripled to one thousand seven hundred sixty two cases in the first half of 2025.
A total of one hundred twenty six point five million Singapore dollars was lost to this type of scam in the same period.
The home affairs ministry acknowledged Facebook Marketplace has required enhanced user verification measures for select sellers in Singapore since 2024.
It introduced in-product safety notices and anti-scam notices within its messaging functions to warn users of e-commerce scam risks.
Those measures were deployed after earlier government criticism over the company’s failure to put in place safeguards protecting users from scams.
Then-Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling said in February 2024 that Meta had consistently pushed back against ministry recommendations to implement verification measures. – Reuters
