Singapore – Last year, Charlotte Goah received a call from a person who claims to be an officer in the Cyber ​​Security Agency in Singapore.

The caller told Goh that her number was linked to fraud that targets the Malaysians and ordered it to the Malaysian “Interpol” to submit a report.

As a sales professional, he often recounts her number in public places, he found Goh, who asked to use a pseudonym, the story is reasonable.

For two hours, Goh has shared personal details such as her name and identification number, although she hesitated to reveal her accurate banking details.

“I was not sure whether it was a fraud – it looked right – but I was also afraid of that,” I told the island.

When she was asked to depict herself with her official identity card, Goh realized that she was deceived and suspected. Fortunately, Goh, 58, managed to quickly change her passwords and transfer money to her daughter’s account before any money was stolen.

Others in the circle of her friends were not very lucky.

“Some friends lost thousands,” she said.

Singapore, one of the richest countries in the world and cunning on the Internet, has become a major goal for global deception.

In the 2023 version of the annual report of the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, Singapore had the highest average loss to all the victims of all countries surveyed, at $ 4,031.

In the first half of 2024, reports of tricks reached a record number of 26,587, with losses of $ 284 million.

To combat this, the government turned into unprecedented measures.

Earlier this month, Parliament in Singapore issued legislation of its kind that gives authorities new authorities to freeze bank accounts to suspect fraud victims.

Under the protection of the fraud bill, the appointed officers can order banks to prohibit individual transactions if they have a reason to believe that they intend to transfer money, withdraw money, or use credit facilities in favor of the deception.

The affected people still keep the money for daily living expenses.

Singaporean police say that persuading the victims exposed to deception is a continuous challenge.

Despite many anti -Scam initiatives, education efforts, and BANKS introduction of features such as Kill Switches, 86 percent of all frauds reported in the city between January and September 2024 are included in the transportation.

The common tactics of the fraudsters include impersonating the personality of government officials and creating an illusion of a romantic relationship.

“This draft law allows the police to act decisively and close a gap in our arsenal against fraudsters.”

Although his supporters were praised by the law as a decisive tool to fight exhausted fraud, it has removed the discussion about the famous Singaporean government’s tendency to interfere in private matters, a model of the rule that is sometimes described as “charitable patriarch”.

Critics believe that the law is an extension of patriarchal rule embodied by the founding leader in Singapore, The late Lee Kwan YuAnd, who once declared that it was “proud” that the city of the city would know that it is a nanny state and claimed that its economic success has become possible by interfering in personal matters such as “who is your neighbor, how you live, and the noise for you to make how to spit.”

In his speech before Parliament before the draft law was passed, Jamous Lim, the deputy with the simple opposition Labor Party, expressed his concern about the intrusive nature of the law, indicating that individuals allow the cancellation of subscription to protection or the appointment of reliable family members as account officials instead.

Lim said: “One may be uncomfortable in particular with how the law granting law enforcement a huge amount of latitude to intervene and restrict what is ultimately a special treatment,” Lim said.

Bertha Hinson, a former editor of the Strits Times, said the legislation was only another example of the government that interferes in “many parts of our lives.”

“Can we be adults and not to run to the state for protection?” Hinson said at the Facebook post. “Because we must think a lot and ask who will protect the individual from the state as well. Or if we can always be assured that the right hands are at the head.”

The discussion comes at a time when the government is in scope measures to enhance public security, including plans to double the number of police surveillance cameras to more than 200,000 by the mid -thirties and legal amendments that give the police new police powers to individuals who suffer from mental health conditions that are safety risks.

Other modern laws, such as the Law of Lights Protection and online Tampering, the Law of Tampering, and the Foreign Intervention Law (counter -measures), reflect the efforts made to process wrong information and external influence.

While it was directed as measures to protect national security and social stability, they also give the authorities wide appreciation authorities.

Walter Thorra, associate professor of economics at the University of Singapore for Social Sciences (SSS), said that the government’s combat legislation reflects the sharp economic and social costs of fraud in the city’s city.

Homra pointed out that many retirees choose to manage large sums of money outside the mandatory savings scheme in Singapore used to finance retirement, health care and housing needs, which exposes them to “the risk of losing everything”.

“Unfortunately, the right to do what you want with your money may have to be limited if your decisions are over, which makes you depend on society or encourage more criminal activity,” Thorra told the island of the island.

Eugene Tan, associate professor at the Law College at the University of SMU, said that the increasing losses of fraud has motivated a transformation towards a “preventive approach” that focuses on preventing fraud before it occurs.

Tan told Al -Jazeera: “If there is no more urgent and strongly, we are not far from an absolute disaster,” Tan told Al -Jazeera.

“The government is alive for social cost and will be limited to its duties not to deal with the imminent crisis.”

Confidence in the government

The supporters of the law argued that it is tightly defined in its scope. The legislation determines that the restrictions will be issued only as a last shelter, if all other efforts to persuade the individual fail.

Individuals also have the right to resume restriction orders, which initially last for 30 days and can be extended to five times.

Tan Ern Cer, associate professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore (NUS), said that while the law may appear to be intrusive for foreigners, Singaporean expect that the government will play an active role in overseeing the welfare and well -being of the public.

“In a sense, Singaporeon wants” support for parents “, but not the” control “side of the parental,” he told Tan Al -Jazeera, describing the audience’s expectation for “a selective and narrower form of parental.”

Tan said that what distinguishes Singapore is the high confidence of the public in the government, citing surveys such as surveying Asian values ​​and global values.

Tan noted that the Singaporean accepted the accommodation orders on a large scale, wears the mandatory mask and tracked the connection during the Covid-19s, which was “politicized to any degree.”

YIP Hon WENG, a deputy who holds the ruling Labor Party, said that the expanded police authorities were a necessary response to the increasing problem of fraud.

“This ability to behave quickly is a changing games for victims who have been targeted again and again, because it prevents more financial losses in the critical moments,” Yip told their island, and he shares the issue of the elderly in his electoral district, which lost his life into a deception that is thought as a government official.

“Restricting access to the account is a temporary step, but it can save individuals from financial ruin. However, these measures must be exercised with caution to avoid undermining the confidence of the public.”

“Interference – the restriction is temporarily to reach accounts – requires an accurate balance” between the protection of the personal agency and the strong implementation, “YIP said.

While the law is suitable for the political context of Singapore, these measures may not be easily adopted in the global context, as some analysts say.

“Countries will have to decide what will succeed with them and whether there is a purchase of the legislative system to deal with fraud,” SMU’s Tan said, which indicates that there is an end to the amount of the country that can interfere, and this. ” Trainers.

Indeed, the law attracted negative gossip via the Internet and the government costs some political capital, Insira said from Souss, adding that he “created a point of discussion that can be used against them in the upcoming elections.”

The general elections come in Singapore, which are scheduled to be held by November, amid an increasing discontent over the ability to withstand housing costs, high cost of living, income inequality, increased polarization and perceived restrictions on opposition in civil society.

Tan from NUS said it is unlikely to put the Anti -Disburgical Act as a global precedent in the era of lack of confidence in politicians and government.

“Everyone in all, my view is that a high degree of confidence in the government/institutions, social cohesion and consensus is necessary when the intervention is designed to restrict or curb a good and legitimate issue, but even though society becomes more broken and polarized, Tan said, quoting Macbeth: