Take-Up Rate And Reports Submitted Through SCAMSHIELD To-Date
Most of us would have been aware of the OCBC phishing scam involving SMS messages sent to OCBC customers. I wonder how many of us would have been aware of ScamShield which could have protected these customers from receiving such scam messages? To bring awareness of this easily available free app developed by GovTech that can be downloaded to our IPhones now and phones using Android system from the 1st half of this year, I filed a Parliamentary Question on the take up rate of ScamShield to date. What is noteworthy is that the 229,000 users have been protected from a staggering 3.4 million scam calls and SMSes. I have since installed the ScamShield app on my phone. Have you?
Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Home Affairs with regard to the usage of ScamShield as a form of protection against scam calls and messages, to date, what is the (i) take-up rate and (ii) number of reports made through the app, respectively.
Mr K Shanmugam: From its launch in November 2020, to 31 December 2021, about 229,000 users have downloaded the ScamShield app.
During this period, 3.4 million calls and SMSes were reported as potential scams. 87% were detected by the ScamShield app; the rest were reported by the users through the ScamShield app.
ScamShield is currently only available on the iOS platform. While we had earlier announced that the Android version would be available in end-2021, timelines have been slightly delayed as GovTech had to reprioritise resources towards supporting the Whole-of-Government response to COVID-19.
The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) and GovTech are working to launch the Android version of ScamShield in the first half of this year instead. We encourage the public to make full use of the ScamShield app to protect themselves from scams.
