Local fraud cases have been rising year by year, up more than 10% year-on-year in 2024, and the total loss amount has surged by more than 70%, marking a new high of 1.1 billion yuan. Scammers use cryptocurrencies to conceal and difficult to track down their cryptocurrencies to quickly transfer funds and evade law enforcement crackdowns, which has become a new trend of fraud.

Singapore Police Force released data on fraud and cybercrime throughout the year in 2024 on Tuesday (February 25). Among them, fraud cases accounted for more than 90%, with the total number increasing by 10.6% to 51,501 in 2024, up from 46,563 last year.

In terms of the total loss of fraud, after a decline in 2023, the loss in 2024 surged by 70.6%; from 651.8 million yuan in 2023 to 1.112.4 million yuan, a record high.

Police said that the number of some fraud-type cases has decreased, but the overall loss amount has increased significantly due to the sharp increase in the amount of losses in individual cases.

Last year, cases with fraud losses of more than 100,000 yuan accounted for 3.3% of all fraud cases, but accounted for 70.8% of the total losses.

Further reading

Last year, the fraud case increased by 50% and the amount of fraud was slightly reduced

Last year, the fraud case increased by 50% and the amount of fraud was slightly reduced

Crime rates remain stable last year my country still needs to be vigilant about fraud and drug abuse

Crime rates remain stable last year my country still needs to be vigilant about fraud and drug abuse

Among them, the total losses in four cases reached an astonishing 237.9 million yuan, accounting for 21.4% of the total fraud losses in 2024.

The four cases involved malware, commercial email, phishing scams and social media impersonation fraud, three of which involved cryptocurrency transactions. Another involves commercial email fraud.

The case is still under investigation and the police cannot disclose more details.

Cryptocurrency fraud is rampant

The rampant illegal transactions of cryptocurrencies are a problem facing the world, and the proportion of cryptocurrency fraud losses in my country has also increased significantly, from about 6.8% in 2023 to about 24.3% in 2024.

The rapid and concealed payments on cryptocurrency platforms are characterized by rapid flow and concealment. In addition, financial institutions such as traditional banks are strictly regulated, and the degree of supervision in various countries is different. Some platforms do not cooperate and lax reviews are not strict, which has increased the recovery of losses. The difficulty of the payment.

Judging from the number of cases, the five most common types of fraud in 2024 are e-commerce, job search, phishing, investment and fake friend call fraud.

The number of e-commerce frauds is the largest, with a total of 11,665 cases, causing losses of at least 17.5 million yuan. Most transactions involve concert tickets.

In terms of the amount of fraud loss, the five highest types of fraud are investment, job hunting, impersonation of government officials, malware and commercial email fraud. Among them, investment fraud ranks fourth in the number of cases, but the total loss amount is the highest, reaching more than 320.7 million yuan.