Measures to control internet cheating

Most people receive e-mails regularly from people who are out to scam. They are usually from overseas and purport to have some money in some bank account which can be withdrawn. It happens a few times each day.  The message keeps changing, but follows a pattern.

While most people will ignore these messages, there will be a small percentage, say 1% of 1% that may fall for the trick. And they will be cheated. The government will say that there is nothing that they can do to stop this massive scamming. People should be smarter and avoid these scams.

I do not agree with the approach of the government on this matter (and I am referring to not just the Singapore government but governments in other countries as well). The law should make it clear that cheating and fraud is a crime and that criminals will be prosecuted. It may not be possible for the government to catch the criminals if they are overseas, but I do expect the government to put in some resources to do what is possible.

Here are some possible things that can be done:

• Trace the location of the sender
• Have a sting operation to catch the criminal
• Tell the ISPs to help and spam back to the spammers

These actions do not cost much. It only takes a responsible government who is willing to do their duty and pass a message that scams and frauds are not tolerated.

Tan Kin Lian