Singapore, through its Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling, has urged the public to avoid investing in digital assets. According to the minister, the number of scams related to these assets has increased drastically, leading to the warning.
In her statement at the parliament, Xueling mentioned that the crypto industry is very complicated because it is anonymous and gives criminals the upper hand. “Our advice to the public is to stay away from cryptocurrencies. The risk of getting burned is high, and if you become a victim of a scam, the chances of getting any of your money back are slim,” Xueling said.
Crypto traders in Singapore suffered one of the highest losses in the crypto market last year, registering a 1.1 billion yuan loss, up by 70% from 2023. While the popularity of crypto has increased, criminals are now urging people to put their funds in crypto, where it can hardly be traced.
While the Monetary Authority of Singapore regulates crypto under the Payment Services Act, most exchanges and wallets users patronize are outside the country. According to experts, scammers continue to target everyone in the crypto industry, with even experts falling prey to their attacks
Singapore official wants tougher penalties
Xueling also talked about the likelihood of tougher penalties for fraud cases in the crypto industry, with Jurong GRC MP Dr Tan Meng noting that the country presently has lenient laws at present. While fraudsters who handle $10,000 are liable to be flogged, others who carry out dire acts are let go. He mentioned that the country needs to consider canning the perpetrators in cases that are too severe.
Sun reported that at present, the government is examining the legislative measures against fraud and increasing some of the offenses that can attract caning. She mentioned that more than 80% of the victims of the scam willingly transferred the money to the fraudster through impersonation, the pretence of authority or fake promises of financial gains.
To tackle this, the Singapore government passed an Anti-Fraud Bill which will allow authorities to block the assets of victims in cases where they do not heed threats. The anticipation is that the rule will be implemented this year. However, to date, there has not been a policy amendment about some of these concerns. But it should be noted that according to local media reports, new regulations might be introduced soon. However, despite the fraud cases, cryptocurrency use is rising in Singapore.