There Will Finally be a Bot to Filter Out WhatsApp Scam Messages

If there’s one thing I know I hate when looking through my messages, it’s having to clear scam and spam messages.

Like, I’m definitely not your “bro” who needs extra cash via “soccer betting”.

And if you’re like me, or if you’re worried that your parents might end up falling victim to scams because they click on anything they see on their phones, here’s some good news.

There’ll finally be a chatbot that will help detect scams for you, so even if a message that you receive looks super “real”, you’ll have the chance to check through it before following the link in it.

So you won’t have to worry about whether or not the money in your bank account will pull a sudden disappearing act on you.

Here’s what you need to know about the Bot, which is slated to be released later this year.

New Bot That Detects Scams For You: the ScamShield Bot

Just yesterday (24 February), Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo announced that the Bot, known as the ScamShield Bot, will be available for use in the near future.

When responding to Mr Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC) and his questions regarding the government’s efforts to identify and shut down scams in Singapore, she revealed that the Bot would be released later this year.

It will be available on WhatsApp, which is perfect because we all know how much our elders love the green icon-ed app.

The Bot, developed by Open Government Products (OGP), will enable members of the public to check if a message that they have received is a scam message by sending the bot screenshots or any suspicious links for the Bot to conduct a check, so you don’t even have to check manually if the link is a scam.

As for how it works, crowdsourced reports and police-blacklisted contacts and links are fed to the Bot so that it can detect websites that are scams.

Mrs Teo, who is also the Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity, emphasised the need for Singaporeans to “trust that they are safe” when surfing the web, even with the ever-rising threats online.

She added that this is why the government has stepped up to protect Singaporeans against scams.

The Bot was part of the initiatives brought up during the Committee of Supply (COS) debate, a debate on the various ministries’ budgets which took place yesterday (24 February).

Topics that were discussed include anti-scam measures, healthcare schemes and environmental innovation.

App Already Exists, Was Launched Last Year and Has Filtered Over 3.5 Million Scam Messages

And for those who have been keeping extremely up-to-date with all of the anti-scam software that has been rolled out, you’ll know that a ScamShield app already exists.

The app, which was launched in 2022, allows users to filter scam calls and messages.

Afterwards, the phone numbers associated with these scam calls and messages will be automatically blocked. ScamShield users can also report phone numbers for them to be blocked as well.

The application, which was developed collectively by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) and the Open Government Products team at the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech), is currently available on both Android and iOS platforms.

Since its launch, over 500,000 smartphone users have downloaded the app.

The app has also managed to detect at least 3.5 million scam messages and 200,000 scam calls.

You Don’t Have to Download the App to Use the Bot

And for those of us who hate downloading new apps because they take up too much storage, you’re in luck with the new ScamShield Bot.

Users of the Bot will not need to download the ScamShield app.

Instead, they can just send the Bot a message on WhatsApp to check whether a particular link or message is a scam.

Yup, it’s that easy. (And definitely less effort and time-consuming than texting your toxic ex all the time.)

Users can also report suspicious phone numbers and messages via the Bot.

According to Mrs Teo, this will enable members of the public to report scam messages with greater ease.

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New Centre to Counter Cyberthreats to Detect Fake Government Websites

Apart from that, a new centre that will focus on responding to cyber threats that national agencies in Singapore have to deal with has also been set up.

The centre, which will replace the Cyber-Watch Centre in Singapore, can identify malicious or fake sites that look like government agency web pages.

These websites, which are considered phishing sites, often use elements such as spoofed Singpass pages in an attempt to obtain victims’ personal data and credentials.

The centre is a collaboration between the new Government Cyber Security Operations Centre and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Previously, the Cyber-Watch Centre was established in Singapore in 2007 and was set up to keep an eye on threats to the government’s digital systems.