Caning scammers, jailing offenders longer: Why S'pore is toughening its crime laws

The Republic has a reputation for being one of the safest countries in the world, and this is in part due to its harsh punishments to deter crime.

The laws at its disposal may soon include caning scammers and their money mules, as proposed in the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill that was tabled in Parliament on Oct 14.

In line with Singapore's history of strengthening laws to deal with the crime scourge of the day, the Bill signals a similar approach being adopted today.

Take, for example, scams, which have wreaked havoc, with victims here having lost $3.4 billion since 2019.

Some victims lost more than their money, dying by suicide. Like the police full-time national serviceman who died in August 2021 by a gunshot wound after he lost over $10,000 in a scam.

If the Bill is passed, scammers, scam syndicate members and its recruiters will face mandatory caning of between six and 24 strokes depending on the severity of the offence.

The Bill also proposes discretionary caning of up to 12 strokes for scam mules, such as those who provide their Singpass credentials, SIM cards or bank accounts to be used in scams.

This is the Ministry of Home Affairs' (MHA) way of pulling out all the stops to dish out deterrent sentences to tackle the worsening situation.

Clearly, it felt more needed to be done, after introducing new offences in May 2023 to tackle scams.

These included rash and negligent money laundering offences, meant to deter money mules who sell their bank accounts and Singpass details to crooks who use them to launder scam proceeds.

Caning scammers was first raised in March by then Jurong GRC MP Tan Wu Meng in a debate on MHA's budget.

Dr Tan, who was then overseeing the Clementi ward, talked about a resident who lost her life savings to scams and asked if Singapore was too soft on scammers.

Criminal lawyer Josephus Tan said caning is a tried-and-tested approach to deter crime, as seen from how the Government dealt with loan shark offences previously.

After mandatory caning was introduced in 2010 for first-time offenders who assist unlicensed moneylenders, the number of loan shark harassment cases fell from 11,776 cases in 2011, to 3,336 cases in 2020.

Mr Tan said: "Some people think that (caning is) very harsh. Actually, it's not. We have done this before, and it was proven very successful in tackling prevalent crimes on a wide scale."

'The worst of the worst'

Another proposed amendment seeks to increase the maximum jail term for the fatal abuse of vulnerable victims from the current 20 years to life imprisonment or up to 30 years.

Vulnerable victims refer to children under the age of 14, domestic workers, and individuals who, because of their mental or physical conditions, cannot protect themselves from abuse.

The police told ST that under these offences, there have not been any reported incidents of fatal migrant domestic worker (MDW) abuse cases in the last five years.

Latest statistics provided to ST by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Oct 18 showed there was an average of 320 reports of MDW abuse annually from 2020 to 2024 - or about one case daily.

An MOM spokesman added that within this period, the incidence rates of abuse reported had decreased from about 1.3 per 1,000 MDWs in 2020, to about an annual average of 1.2 per 1,000 MDWs between 2022 and 2024.

Nevertheless, the proposal comes after several disturbing, high-profile abuse cases that sparked public outrage.

They included a couple who repeatedly splashed hot water on their five-year-old son until the boy died from his injuries, and the death of Myanmar domestic worker Piang Ngaih Don at the hands of her employer Gaiyathiri Murugayan and the latter's family members.

The case of four-year-old Megan Khung, who died in 2020 after suffering more than a year of humiliating abuse inflicted by her mother Foo Li Ping, 29, and the woman's boyfriend Wong Shi Xiang, 38, also stunned the public.

In April 2025, Foo was sentenced to 19 years' jail, while Wong was sentenced to 30 years' jail and 17 strokes of the cane.

MHA told ST on Oct 14 that the amendment is a result of its regular review of Singapore's criminal laws, which was not prompted by Megan's case.

But the MHA spokeswoman added: "If a similar case like Megan's happens in the future, offenders could face up to 30 years' imprisonment, with the possibility of life imprisonment for the most serious of cases."

Criminal lawyers, including Foo's defence lawyer, Mr Tan, welcomed the harsher penalties, saying they would give the courts more sentencing options.

Meanwhile, veteran criminal lawyer Ramesh Tiwary said it was important to distinguish each case, as some offenders were driven by problems such as drug use instead of vicious intent.

He added: "The maximum (penalty) should really be kept for the worst of the worst."

Unreal image, real punishments

The law has also moved over the years to better protect victims of sex offences, and this Bill similarly places emerging forms of sex crimes under scrutiny.

Calling the amendments a necessary evolution, Ms Sugidha Nithiananthan, advocacy and research director at the Association of Women for Action and Research, said online sexual harms are growing more insidious and widespread, and the law has struggled to keep up.

One significant proposed change is a new offence targeting those who set up or manage online locations, such as group chats and websites, to allow large-scale circulation of obscene material.

It will slap harsher penalties on administrators of nefarious groups like the SG Nasi Lemak Telegram chat group, which shared obscene photos and videos of Singaporean women with around 44,000 members.

The two group administrators were handed charges including transmitting obscene materials by electronic means, which carried punishments of up to three months' jail, a fine, or both.

One was sentenced to mandatory treatment for a year, while the other was jailed for nine weeks and fined $26,000. MHA said existing penalties are inadequate to deal with very serious cases.

With the new proposed offence, such administrators can be jailed for up to two years, fined or both.

Non-profit organisation SG Her Empowerment (SHE) chief executive How Kay Lii said it has supported survivors whose images ended up in Telegram groups they never knew existed.

Ms How said some were intimate photos or videos shared within relationships and later weaponised as "revenge porn". Other cases resulted from hacked accounts and stolen devices, or covert recordings from hidden cameras.

She said: "In some instances, perpetrators share this material to boast or gain status among peers, turning a private act of trust into a public act of humiliation."

Additionally, MHA said that in the light of technological advances such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Bill seeks to ensure the laws will fully cover AI-generated porn involving children and non-consenting persons.

Ms How said SHE's support centre, SheCares, has seen over 400 cases of online harms since it was started in 2023, with cases including AI-generated sexual imagery seeing a slight increase year on year.

Ms How said: "Previously, perpetrators could claim 'it's not real, so it's not illegal'. This law closes that dangerous gap."

The move comes as the possession of child pornography, an offence which came into force in 2020, is increasing in Singapore. There were seven court cases in 2023, compared with one case in 2020.

The Bill wants to clarify that computer-generated material of child abuse will also be illegal, even if a real child was not used in its production.

Mr Shashi Nathan, joint managing partner at Withers KhattarWong who heads the firm's criminal litigation practice, said creating AI images of child pornography encourages an acceptance of such material, which may make people think it is normal to view content involving real children.

He added: "I would find that abhorrent and I think it crosses the line."

Legal, but should you do it?

An interesting bit in the Bill clarifies that consensual sexting between adults is not illegal.

MHA told ST that it identified the ambiguity during a regular review of Singapore's criminal laws, but said the clarification was not a change in policy.

It was also careful to clarify that the non-consensual sending of obscene material and sending of such material depicting minors remains illegal.

On consensual sexting, Mr Tan said: "In theory, it sounds perfect, but in practice, it might not be so easy to enforce when emotions run high in human relationships."

He cited how after a break-up, a couple might disagree about whether they can keep intimate images which they had consensually sent each other.

Mr Tan said more education is needed to help the public understand the definition of "consensual" in such circumstances.

Ms Nithiananthan said the clarification is welcome as it affirms adults' rights to private sexual expression, but there are real risks as the images could be shared or used without permission with devastating consequences.

She added: "The answer isn't to police consensual behaviour. It's to hold abusers accountable, and to build a culture that understands and respects consent - online and off."

While tougher laws and penalties are Singapore's ways of deterring crime, they are not the only methods to ensure a safe society.

Lawyers like Mr Sunil Sudheesan, who heads the criminal law department at Quahe Woo & Palmer, caution against unduly harsh sentences for scam offences. He wants to know how the courts will exercise discretion in such cases.

On caning, Mr Tiwary thinks the punishment would not discourage everyone from becoming a money mule for scammers, especially when they are desperate financially.

He said: "If we only have one method of controlling crime, which is to increase penalties, we're not tackling issues of why this is happening in society."

Ms Jaya Anil Kumar, director of casework and legal at the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, said most cases of maid abuse stem from conditions that enable social isolation and entrench the power imbalance between domestic helpers and employers, not from a lack of deterrent laws.

She said: "Ultimately, better protection and empowerment - not just harsher penalties - are key to preventing abuse and ensuring all domestic workers in Singapore can live and work with dignity and security."

Several initiatives by MOM to support domestic helpers since 2021 include mandatory interviews for first-time maids in their first year of work, and checks by employment agencies.

The MOM spokesman said it also raises awareness of the issue of abuse among domestic helpers through a settling-in programme and with its community partners.

Dr Tan called the Bill a decisive move, and said his former residents in Clementi supported the proposal to cane scammers.

He said: "We may not be able to recover all the funds for those who have already been scammed, but hopefully, we can prevent more lives from being ruined."

Helplines

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• National helpline: 1771 (24 hours) / 6669-1771 (via WhatsApp)
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Online resources

• mindline.sg/fsmh
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• limitless.sg/talk (for those aged 12 to 25)

Anti-violence and abuse

• National Anti-Violence & Sexual Harassment Helpline: 1800-777-0000 (24 hours)
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