Debated in Parliament on 25 Sep 2025.
Mr David Hoe asked the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Police will implement multi-language selection and support for the ScamShield helpline; (b) whether multilingual outreach materials on ScamShield will be made available at community nodes; and (c) if so, what are the roll-out timeline and KPIs.
Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for his question. Today, members of the public who call the ScamShield helpline are first assisted by the Interactive Voice Response System, which provides automated responses for simpler queries in English.
We have also received feedback from many Singaporeans, especially our seniors, who have expressed an interest who do want more language options to be supported. So, I am happy to announce that in 2026, we are currently working on it, and we will enhance in 2026, for the system to allow callers to navigate the Interactive Voice Response System in all four official languages. Currently, however, if the caller chooses to speak to an operator, the operator will converse in the caller's preferred language if the operator is able to, or he can also transfer the call to another available operator who is able to do so.
However, I seek Members' understanding that this is not always possible, such as during peak hours or at night, when there are fewer operators online.
The Police also regularly issue multilingual materials to educate the public on scams and the ScamShield suite of anti-scam resources. For instance, since July, the Police have been disseminating an anti-scam resource guide in all four official languages to households. The resource guide is also being disseminated through community partners and made available through all our Neighbourhood Police Centres and on the ScamShield website.
Mr David Hoe.
Thank you, Mr Speaker and I thank the Minister of State for his response. I am particularly heartened that we will consider four languages for our seniors because this is something that my Clementi residents have reached out to me about. When they called the ScamShield hotline, everything was in English.
I have three specific supplementary questions. The first one, I am heartened to know that it is going to be in 2026, but could we have a specific deadline for when we will we see this rolled out. The second question is, from the interim period from now till then, if our seniors have clarifications whether a particular call is a scam call, could we share what could we do about it for our seniors?
And the last question is a suggestion. Could we consider having a senior mode, because sometimes, they tell me, "David, you talk too fast." So, in the same way, whether a senior mode will allow for them to click a particular number and for that operator to speak slightly slower.
I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. In particular, he is concerned at heart for our seniors.
Indeed, we are working on it, in 2026, this is a suggestion that we recently discussed internally and my guidance to the team is to be earlier rather than later. This is an effort that we are working on in concert with the National Crime Prevention Council. We hope to deliver as soon as possible within 2026.
In terms of what kind of advice we give to our seniors, I think, more importantly, I will refer them to the ScamShield suite of options. We have the website, we have the app as well as the helpline. I think these are important resources. And if indeed, they find the operator on the helpline speaking too quickly, the senior can make a request for the operator to slow down.
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