Singapore Tells Apple and Google to Block Fake Messages in Crackdown on Scams

Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued directives under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) requiring Apple and Google to implement anti-spoofing measures.

Scammers have found a loophole. While traditional SMS messages from government agencies in Singapore are protected by a verified “gov.sg” sender-ID (as enforced via the SMS Sender ID Registry), this safeguard does not cover messaging platforms such as iMessage or Google Messages.

“To protect the public from impersonation sca