How to deal with scam emails and phone calls

The incidences of scam emails and phone calls are rampant in Singapore. We need to understand the root cause and take the appropriate measures to deal with it.

For the past two decades, the Singapore authorities (and in particular the Ministry of Finance and the Monetary Authority of Singapore) have mandated government agencies and financial institutions to avoid sending  business communication  (i.e. statements, invoices, notices) by email, on the ground that emails may be hacked. 

These institutions stored their business communications in their websites and send email notifications to remind the public to login to the websites to retrieve these communications.

This practice has created an unintended consequence. The scammers realized that they could send false notifications to the public and direct them to their scam websites. The public did not realize that they were logging into the scam websites and the scammers were able to capture their login credentials. The scammers used the credentials to login to the real websites. 

It can be harmful if the credentials are to access bank accounts and allow money to be transferred.

To eradicate these scams, we have to deal with the root of the problem. The organizations should not store their business communications in their own websites. Instead, they should send these communications directly to the email accounts of the recipients or into a secure website (which I will name as the Business Mail website). 

Each person has an account in the Business Mail website, and the business communications from all participating organizations will be sent to this account.

The public is likely to login into one account regularly, maybe daily, as it contains the communications from all the relevant organizations. It is like opening the paper mail that is sent to his home address. 

When the Business Mail platform is created, there is no need for the individual organizations to send email notifications to the public. The public will not be scammed into accessing the scam websites. 

Tan Kin Lian