Singapore’s police have ordered Apple and Google to take action against the spoofing of government agencies on their messaging platforms, the Ministry of Home Affairs said on Tuesday.
The directive, issued under the country’s Online Criminal Harms Act, follows a rise in scams on Apple’s iMessage and Google Messages that falsely claimed to be from local organisations such as the postal service SingPost.
Messaging Scams Exploit Government Name
In September, Singapore also warned Meta Platforms that it could face fines if it failed to introduce stronger safeguards, such as facial recognition, to tackle impersonation scams on Facebook involving government officials.
Although government agencies have registered with a local SMS registry to ensure only authorised senders can use the “gov.sg” name, this protection does not currently extend to iMessage and Google Messages.
“Members of the public may assume that messages they receive from accounts claiming to be from ‘gov.sg’ on iMessage or Google Messages are legitimate because messages sent through these platforms appear alongside and are not easily distinguishable from SMSes,” police said.
Apple and Google Commit to Compliance
Under the new order, Apple and Google must prevent accounts and group chats from displaying names that impersonate “gov.sg” or other government entities, or filter such messages out entirely.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said both companies have agreed to comply and urged users to update their apps to ensure the latest protections take effect.
Google confirmed in a statement that it is working closely with the Singapore government to implement these preventive measures, adding that they build upon its ongoing efforts to combat scams through proactive spam filtering.
Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.
(with inputs from Reuters)
