Singapore wants Apple, Google to block government impersonation scam messages on devices

These measures aim to stop scammers from using the "gov.sg" SMS sender ID and the names of government agencies, according to a statement released Monday by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The mandated steps include blocking accounts and group chats from using names that mimic "gov.sg" or government bodies, and filtering messages from such accounts or chats.

Apple and Google must also ensure that the profile names of unknown senders are either not displayed or shown less prominently than their phone numbers.

"This would help users better identify and be wary of unknown senders," the ministry said, adding that compliance is required by Sunday. It added that both companies have indicated they will follow the requirements.

Government-official impersonation scams have been increasing. Police data shows such cases nearly tripled in the first half of 2025, rising 199 per cent to 1,762 cases from 589 in the same period last year.

These scams also accounted for the second-largest losses among all scam types in the first half of the year, with around SGD126.5 million (US$97 million) lost. They made up about 28% of all scam cases and 34% of total scam losses.

Responding to Channel News Asia, a Google spokesperson said there have been no reported cases of government impersonation involving Rich Communication Services (RCS) messages on Android devices.

RCS messages use mobile data or Wi-Fi. The spokesperson noted that the company shares Singapore’s goal of keeping users safe online.

"To that end, we are collaborating with the government to implement pre-emptive measures to help prevent the spoofing of government agencies’ names in RCS messages sent via Google Messages."