Singapore has introduced stricter rules for online advertising to combat scams, requiring platform verification and tighter controls, although experts warn persistent scams may shift tactics and require broader enforcement efforts.
Singapore’s new clampdown on social media scam advertising has been welcomed by legal and academic experts as overdue, but they cautioned that the rules will not by themselves stop fraudsters from adapting. According to measures announced by the police on August 18, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok must verify advertisers against government-issued records, while platforms will also have to block advertisements from unlicensed financial firms, check suspicious links and remove dubious content quickly.
Experts said the changes bring online advertising closer to the rules already applied in physical spaces. Associate Professor Hannah Yee-Fen Lim of Nanyang Technological University said the bar on ads from unlicensed financial advertisers mirrors restrictions already in place offline, and suggested the delay may reflect the cost and complexity of compliance. She described the move as long overdue, especially as online scams have grown sharply in scale.
The concern, however, is that scammers rarely rely on a single channel. Leong Zhen Yang, an associate at IRB Law, said a licence held by a company does not prove that every advert placed in its name is legitimate, warning that rogue representatives and impersonators can still mislead consumers. He said the most effective response would be continuous verification, not a one-off check, because ownership, licensing status and product offers can all change. He also noted that fraudsters may simply shift to unpaid posts, livestreams, influencer content or private messages if paid adverts become harder to use.
The wider enforcement picture suggests Singapore is already moving in that direction. In January, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a directive to Meta requiring enhanced measures against scam adverts and impersonation accounts on Facebook, including facial recognition tools and faster handling of Singapore user reports. In February, it issued another directive aimed at unlicensed moneylending adverts targeting migrant domestic workers. In May, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore also acted against online retailers using dark patterns such as fake countdown timers and fabricated visitor counts to pressure shoppers.
The new social media rules will take effect on January 31, 2027, and failure to comply will be a criminal offence under the Online Criminal Harms Act, with penalties of up to S$1 million. For users, the measures could prove especially useful because messaging services will also have to show the country from which unsolicited calls or messages originate, as well as the account’s creation date. Unknown contacts will need consent before adding users to group chats or channels, a safeguard that experts say should disrupt a common investment-scam tactic. Still, they argued that success will depend on a broader system involving platforms, payment firms, law enforcement and users themselves.
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