Singapore Orders Apple, Google To Curb Gov't Agency Spoofing On Messaging Services

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 (Bernama) -- The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has instructed Apple and Google to implement measures aimed at preventing the spoofing of Singapore government agencies via iMessage and Google Messages by Nov 30.

Singapore’s Home Ministry (MHA) said SPF issued the directive to the two companies on Monday, Nov 24.

“Apple and Google have indicated that they will comply with the directive. We urge the public to regularly update the iMessage and Google Messages apps on their mobile devices, to ensure that the latest anti-spoofing safeguards are in place,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Under the directive, the tech giants must prevent accounts and group chats from displaying names that impersonate “gov.sg” or other Singapore government agencies, and filter messages from any accounts or group chats attempting such spoofing. 

They are also required to ensure that the profile names of unknown senders are either hidden or displayed less prominently than their phone numbers. This would help users easily identify and be wary of unknown senders. 

MHA said to protect the public from impersonation scams, Singapore government agencies have been using the “gov.sg” SMS sender ID to send SMSes since July 2024 to help the public identify legitimate government messages.

“While we have imposed this and other safeguards like the SMS Sender ID Registry (SSIR) on SMSes, they currently do not apply to messages sent via iMessage and Google Messages,” it added.

MHA said the police have already encountered scams on iMessage and Google Messages involving the impersonation of other SSIR-registered SMS sender IDs, including over 120 cases mimicking the Singapore postal service, SingPost.

“There is therefore a need to put in place measures to deter the abuse of iMessage and Google Messages by scammers,” the ministry said.

Under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) 2023, companies that fail to comply with the implementation directive without a reasonable excuse can be fined up to S$1 million and, in cases of repeated offence, an additional fine of up to S$100,000 for each day or part thereof that the offence continues after conviction.

-- BERNAMA