Meta risks US$775,600 fine if it ignores Singapore order on Facebook scam crackdown
The directive came after a total of US$98.1 million was lost to government official impersonation scams in the first half of 2025
The company could be fined up to S$1 million (US$775,698) if it fails to comply as part of the first such order under the nation’s new Online Criminal Harms Act, which came into force in February 2024.
“We are issuing [the order] to Meta because Facebook is the top platform used by scammers for such impersonation scams, and the police have assessed that more decisive action is required to curb these scams,” Minister of State for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming said in a speech on Wednesday.
A Meta spokesperson said on Wednesday that the company had specialised systems to detect impersonating accounts, including facial recognition technology, and it had invested heavily in improving detection and review teams. It also shares tips on avoiding scams and offers tools to report potential violations, the spokesperson said.
“We also rolled out advertiser verification and continue working with law enforcement and take legal action against the criminals behind these scams,” they added.
In August, Singapore’s home affairs ministry found that more than a third of all e-commerce scams reported in 2024 were perpetrated on Facebook. It also rated Facebook Marketplace as the weakest among six e-commerce marketplaces in terms of anti-scam features deployed.