PUBLISHED ONJuly 07, 2026 12:55 PMBYSean LerCalls from government agencies will soon come with a common, easily recognisable prefixed number, with the police piloting the initiative this year, said Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo on Tuesday (July 7).
She was replying to a parliamentary question by MP Shawn Loh (Jalan Besar GRC) who asked whether the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) would consider a protocol for all Government-initiated calls to begin with a process for the call recipient to verify the officer's identity.
In his question, the first-term MP opined that this could help reduce government official impersonation scams (GOIS) and increase public awareness to seek verification even for non-government calls.
While the total number of scam and cybercrime cases fell to 41,974 last year from 55,810 in 2024, the number of GOIS cases more than doubled from 1,504 in 2024 to 3,363 last year.
Correspondingly, the total amount lost by victims of GOIS rose by 60.5 per cent — from $151.3 million in 2024 to $242.9 million last year.
This works out to more than $72,000 lost per case on average last year.
According to the police's annual scam and cybercrime brief published in February, the majority of GOIS victims were aged 65 and above.
Teo said in her written reply that the Government takes the threat of GOIS seriously and is committed to combating calls that undermine public trust in government communications.
She added that the Government is developing systems for all agencies to make calls with numbers that start with a common prefix, with the police piloting this initiative later this year.
Speaking during the debate on the Ministry of Home Affairs' budget on Feb 27, Minister of State Goh Pei Ming said the police are working with Open Government Products and the Infocomm Media Development Authority on this.
In addition to using a common prefix, the Government is also working to tag its calls with a recognisable user name and adopt authentication protocols that reference international standards, Teo said.
Among the standards being referenced are the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN).
The STIR/SHAKEN framework is an industry-standard identity authentication technology designed to verify caller ID information for calls carried over Internet Protocol (IP) networks.
According to the US Federal Communications Commission, this allows the phone company of the receiver to verify that a call is indeed from the number displayed on the caller ID.
Meanwhile, the police on July 3 also announced the formation of a new Cyber Command, which it said will be the tip of the spear in the police's response to online cybercrime.
Even as the Government acts to strengthen such safeguards, Singaporeans must remain vigilant and take active steps to protect themselves, Teo said.
This includes not transferring money, disclosing bank log-in details over a phone call, or installing mobile applications from unofficial app stores.
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