Meta ordered to implement measures preventing government official impersonation scams by Sept 30

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has ordered Meta to implement measures against scams impersonating government officials by Sept 30.

In a statement on Thursday (Sept 25), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the parent company of Facebook was issued an implementation directive on Sept 24 under the Online Criminal Harms Act (Ocha).

Ocha came into force in February 2024 and allows the Government to remove criminal content online.

Under the directive, Meta will have to implement enhanced facial recognition measures.

It will also be required to prioritise review of end-user reports from Singapore, to reduce scam advertisements, accounts, profiles, and/or business pages impersonating key government office-holders.

Failure to comply by the deadline "without reasonable excuse" will result in a fine of up to $1 million, in addition to a $100,000 fine for each day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction, said MHA.

The ministry said the directive is a result of increased instances of scammers exploiting Facebook to perpetrate impersonation scams using videos or images of key government office-holders in fake advertisements, accounts, profiles and business pages between June 2024 and June 2025.

Facebook is the top platform used by scammers to commit such impersonation scams, with the police disrupting around 2,000 of such advertisements and online monikers on Facebook during the year-long period.

The ministry said: "While Meta has taken steps to address the risk of impersonation scams globally, including in Singapore, MHA and SPF remain concerned by the prevalence of such scams in Singapore. SPF has therefore issued this ID to Meta, to underscore the seriousness that the Government attaches to the matter."

MHA and the police will also work with Meta to leverage its global impersonation protection measures to support other influential public figures in Singapore who may be at risk of being impersonated by scammers. 

Facebook is the first social media platform being issued such a directive under Ocha, and similar requirements on other online platforms are being considered by the ministry and the police.

According to mid-year scam and cybercrime statistics released by SPF on Aug 30, the number of government official impersonation scams almost tripled, with 1,762 cases reported in the first half of 2025 compared to 589 in the same period last year.

In total, victims of government impersonation scams lost $126.5 million in the first six months of 2025, which is about double that of the $67.2 million lost in the same period in 2024.

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dana.leong@asiaone.com