Training for Service Staff at Telecommunications Companies to Spot Possible Scams Targeted at Customers from Vulnerable Groups

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim asked the Minister for Communications and Information whether there is any regulation or safeguard to ensure that service staff of telecommunications companies in Singapore are aware of any red flags, to prevent vulnerable groups, such as elderly or special needs adults, from being exploited or scammed to sign up for mobile lines and phone contracts.

The Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information (Mr Tan Kiat How) (for the Minister for Communications and Information): Mr Speaker, the Infocomm Media Development Authority, or IMDA, has required telecom operators (telcos) to put in place measures to safeguard the interest of consumers who use telecommunication services.

These measures are intended to protect all consumers, including those in the vulnerable groups. Examples include requiring telco service staff to verify consumers' identity during the registration process, explain key contractual terms and conditions to consumers at the point of sign up and ensure that these are understood before service sign up.

In addition to regulatory safeguards, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI)'s public education programmes help to ensure that Singaporeans are equipped with digital literacy skills and can safeguard themselves against online harm and threats.

This includes the SG Digital Office's, Seniors Go Digital Programme and the Cyber Security Agency's SG Cyber Safe Seniors Programme, which aims to raise seniors' awareness of cybersecurity and cybercrime and encourage the adoption of good cyber hygiene practices.

The Government also works with the people, private and public sectors, on ground-up initiatives under the Digital for Life movement, to uplift digital literacy among vulnerable groups. Taken together, these consumer protection measures and public education programmes help to protect our population from exploitation and scams by bad actors.

The public can also remain vigilant by learning to identify and avoid scams and scam tactics, such as signing up for mobile lines on behalf of strangers. All of us have a part to play in helping the more vulnerable segments of our community.

Thank you, Sir. I thank Senior Minister of State Tan for the answer. Sir, my Keat Hong resident, an elderly couple came to see me during a Meet-the-People Sessions. Their 31-year-old intellectually disabled son was tricked to sign up for different telco lines and mobile phone contracts.

Within the span of one week, he signed up for four lines and various phone contracts. The scammers made off with the phones, the family saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of bills, but thanks to IMDA's swift intervention – I thank the colleagues at IMDA – they intervened and the bills were waived.

My question is given the vulnerability of individuals, like elderly or intellectually disabled adults, can MCI work with telcos to train or raise awareness amongst the frontline staff to have a checklist of red flags when it comes to contracting, perhaps similar to tellers at frontline banks, so that we can prevent our vulnerable individuals and adults and elderly residents from falling prey to such scams.

Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for his supplementary question. It is always particularly heart-wrenching and upsetting when you hear about crimes and scams targeting the more vulnerable in our population – the elderly or people with disabilities. For that particular case, I am glad that the case was quickly dealt with by the IMDA colleagues and the telcos, and I thank the Member, Mr Zhulkarnain, for commending the IMDA team on that.

In fact, for this case, when the IMDA team knew about the appeal from Mr Zhulkarnain, they immediately contacted the telco staff and within a couple of days, the telcos agreed to waive or freeze the charges and we got back to the family very soon, because we know the anxieties and the concerns of the parents, the family members and the individual himself.

As I understand it, a Police report has been made over the case, and Police investigations are ongoing.

But the broader point that Mr Zhulkarnain has raised is something that we are continually looking into. We will work together with our telcos, especially their frontline staff, to review their practices and whether additional staff training may be needed, so that they can flag out some of these possible scams and tactics being used against the vulnerable members of our community and see what ways we can improve the telcos themselves. This is in their interest. They are, also – in a way, a victim of this crime – defrauded by some of these scams.

So, it is in our collective interest to not just minimise the risk of scams and such tactics against vulnerable members of the community, but to collectively take action to prevent such cases from happening. I thank the Member for his suggestion. It is something that we will continue to review.