Key Points:
- Singapore will launch a new police Cyber Command in July with an initial team of 200 officers.
- Scammers stole a massive $913.1 million from victims in Singapore during the 2025 calendar year.
- The new unit will use advanced artificial intelligence and blockchain tools to track stolen cryptocurrency.
- Police officers will proactively shut down fake websites and malicious phone lines before they reach victims.
Singapore plans to launch a new Cyber Command within the police this July to tackle the growing threat of online scams. The government will merge existing cybercrime units and the current Anti-Scam Command into one central frontline force. Minister of State for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming announced the new initiative on May 11 during the Anti-Scam Conference 2026. He told attendees that the specialized unit will start with 200 officers and eventually double its size to more than 400 dedicated cyber experts.
Goh outlined the massive scale of the problem during his opening speech at the Police Cantonment Complex. He noted that the conference brought together representatives from over 20 countries, including France and the United Arab Emirates. These international experts met to share strategies and disrupt cross-border criminal networks. Goh stressed that Singapore authorities must take the fight directly to the criminals by attacking their operations upstream.
Financial losses from these online crimes continue to break records. Globally, criminals stole an estimated US$442 billion from victims in 2025. Singapore felt a heavy blow from this crime wave, recording more than 37,300 scam cases that cost residents about $913.1 million last year. The bleeding continued into the first quarter of 2026, with police logging over 7,800 new cases and victims losing another $144.3 million in just three months.
These crimes cause severe social harm beyond the loss of money. Goh shared stories of older citizens who fear scams so much that they stop using digital tools altogether, which forces them to isolate themselves from modern society. He also described meeting families who lost their entire life savings and retirement funds to cunning online thieves. Goh said scams deeply erode basic trust within the local community.
To combat this threat, the new Cyber Command will proactively hunt down criminal infrastructure. Police officers will identify and shut down fake websites and malicious phone lines before scammers can use them to trap victims. Currently, the police already use artificial intelligence programs to spot fake sites, which helps them quickly block two-thirds of these dangerous web pages.
The government wants to improve these technical tools further. Goh explained that authorities must identify and destroy scam channels faster and cheaper than criminals can build them. He called this the best way to break the endless cycle of online fraud. However, criminals do not sit still. Scammers now use artificial intelligence to run their own operations. A recent Interpol report revealed that artificial intelligence-powered fraud generates up to 4.5 times more profit than traditional methods.
Tracking stolen money also presents new hurdles for law enforcement. Assistant Superintendent of Police Lee Hua Sheng explained that cryptocurrency scams create unique problems compared to normal bank transfers. He pointed out that cryptocurrency moves fast, crosses borders instantly, and remains irreversible. Once victims send their digital funds, freezing the money becomes incredibly difficult for police officers.
Criminals take full advantage of this modern financial system. They rapidly bounce stolen funds across dozens of digital wallets in different countries within seconds to hide their tracks. To solve this problem, the current Anti-Scam Center will join the new Cyber Command. The center will expand its teams and use advanced blockchain intelligence tools to trace and recover stolen cryptocurrency.
Since its creation in 2019, the Anti-Scam Center has successfully recovered more than $730 million in stolen funds. Law enforcement leaders know they cannot win this fight alone. Criminals operate globally, so police forces must cooperate across international borders. The Cyber Command will make strengthening international operations a major priority.
Goh highlighted Project FRONTIER+ as a successful example of global teamwork. Established in 2024, this initiative connects anti-scam units from more than a dozen regions, including Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand. In 2025 alone, this massive partnership helped authorities recover more than $28 million and arrest over 2,100 people involved in scam syndicates.
Singapore will continue to expand these global partnerships while increasing local community outreach. Goh wants to empower regular citizens to join the daily fight against online threats. He believes the new Cyber Command will act as the tip of the spear in the police response to cyber threats. The unit will stand at the very front lines to protect everyday people from losing their hard-earned money to faceless criminals.
