Singapore Orders Apple, Google to Block Gov’t Spoofing on Messaging Apps

Singapore’s police have ordered Apple and Google to mitigate the spoofing of government agencies on their messaging platforms, Reuters reported Nov. 25. The directive was issued under the country’s Online Criminal Harms Act after police observed scams on iMessage and Google Messages that impersonated local organisations such as SingPost.

According to the home affairs ministry, government agencies already use a local SMS registry that prevents their “gov.sg” name from being copied in regular text messages. That safeguard does not extend to Apple and Google’s internet-based messaging apps, where fraudulent accounts can appear alongside legitimate SMS messages.

The ministry said both companies have committed to following the order and encouraged users to update their apps to activate the new protections.

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