Guidelines for Scams Related Offences
The Sentencing Advisory Panel has published the Guidelines for Scams-Related Offences (“the Guidelines”). Parties may raise the Guidelines in their submissions to the court with immediate effect.
Scams are a major and fast-growing concern:
-
Over the past five years, the number of reported scam cases increased by more than seven-fold, while the amounts lost to scams have quadrupled. In 2023, there were 46,563 scam cases, an increase of 46.8% from 2022.
-
The total amount of monies lost by scam victims in 2023 alone was $651.8 million.
To combat the growing menace posed by scams, Parliament introduced new offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 (“CDSA”) and Computer Misuse Act 1993 (“CMA”) in 2023. These offences came into force on 8 February 2024. They target a critical component of the operation of scam syndicates – persons in Singapore who hand over control of their bank accounts or who disclose Singpass credentials to others, who are then able to use these accounts and credentials to commit scams and launder scam proceeds.
The Guidelines aim to provide clarity on how the new CDSA and CMA offences should be sentenced. They include recommended starting sentences as well as the offender- and offence-specific factors to be considered when adjusting the starting sentence (e.g. committing the offence for personal gain, involvement of a vulnerable victim). To send a strong deterrent signal, the Guidelines recommend that custodial sentences should be the norm for scams-related offences involving the handing over of bank accounts or the disclosure of Singpass credentials. This recommendation applies to all offenders (even young offenders below the age of 21), except juvenile offenders dealt with in the Youth Court.