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Reasons that Wrong Recipient Names Were Sent Out on Single Sender “gov.sg” SMSes | PAPERCUTS

Reasons that Wrong Recipient Names Were Sent Out on Single Sender “gov.sg” SMSes

Debated in Parliament on 6 Aug 2024.

Summary written by AI (learn more)

More than 7,000 scam advisory SMSes were sent with wrong recipient names on 1 July 2024 due to an officer’s administrative error in sorting the recipient list.
The Police immediately sent a follow-up SMS to affected recipients, apologised, and confirmed that personal data was not compromised.
Authorities acknowledged that while training is provided, human errors can occur, and efforts will focus on preventing systemic recurrence.

Questions identified by AI (learn more)

Full Transcript

He Ting Ru

#1

Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Home Affairs with regard to wrong recipient names being sent out on the first operational day of the single sender “gov.sg” SMSes (a) how many messages have been sent with the wrong recipient names; (b) what has been the specific administrative error that led to this; and (c) what steps have been or will be taken to prevent their recurrence.

K Shanmugam

#2

On 1 July 2024, the Police sent a legitimate scam advisory to alert members of the public to the re-emergence of a fake bulk order scam. This was sent via the “gov.sg” SMS Sender ID. The advisory was sent to more than 7,000 members of the public with the wrong recipient names.

This resulted from an officer making an administrative error when sorting the list of names and contact details of the SMS recipients. Upon realising the error, the Police immediately sent a follow-up SMS to the affected recipients and apologised. The recipients’ personal data was not compromised.

As Members will understand, while officers are trained, human errors will happen sometimes. Our task is to ensure that it is not a systemic issue.

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Disclaimer

The information on this site contains data taken from the Parliament website and the Hansard, and augmented with analyses from artificial intelligence agents. While great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of these analyses, they should not be regarded as fully accurate or comprehensive. Users are advised to consult original parliamentary documents and official records for precise and authoritative information.

Summary written by AI (learn more)

More than 7,000 scam advisory SMSes were sent with wrong recipient names on 1 July 2024 due to an officer’s administrative error in sorting the recipient list.
The Police immediately sent a follow-up SMS to affected recipients, apologised, and confirmed that personal data was not compromised.
Authorities acknowledged that while training is provided, human errors can occur, and efforts will focus on preventing systemic recurrence.

Questions identified by AI (learn more)

Questions identified

Summary

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