In light of many scams posing to be government agencies and taking our money, the Singapore Government will be implementing a brand new change.
Starting 1 July 2024, all SMSes from government agencies will come from a single SMS Sender ID – gov.sg.
Easier to Identify Authentic Messages From the Government
Seeing how scam cases increased almost 50% in 2023 with over 46k scams, this change is coming at a great time.
Instead of receiving messages with individual government agencies’ Sender IDs, the government is introducing a single SMS Sender ID, gov.sg.
All correspondences from any government agency, including the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board and the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), will be identified with just gov.sg.
In an added layer of protection, the Government has also partnered with SMS aggregators and all telecommunications service providers and their sub-brands to safeguard this Sender ID from being spoofed.
Deputy Secretary of the Smart Nation Group, Mr Sim Feng-Ji said, “This consolidated gov.sg SMS Sender ID is designed to give the public added confidence and ease of mind when it comes to identifying legitimate SMSes from government agencies.”
SMSes are still a primary mode of communication for government agencies, with over 100 million SMSes sent by various agencies.
These messages are sent out to notify recipients of policy changes, provide transaction updates and more.
However, do note that unless your number is registered with an SG Government agency, with Singaporean telcos and you are physically in the country, you may or may not receive SMSes under the “gov.sg” sender ID.
Perhaps this chart will explain it better:
While these implementations make everything safer and more secure, we should all remain vigilant to prevent any loss of information and/or money.
Just last December, at least 120 people fell victim to scams impersonating government officials.
They lost almost S$13.3 million collectively, with S$488,000 from CPF savings.
The Singapore Police Force has reminded the public to stay alert for repeated scam attempts, including those impersonating the Police or other government authorities and to report them immediately.
Should you need advice on scams, please call the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688.
