Singapore anti-scam campaign highlights emotional toll on victims
Singapore’s National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) has launched a campaign to raise awareness around scams, which have been on the rise in the country.
NCPC hopes the ad will show how anyone can be a victim
Victims in Singapore lost S$168m to scammers in the top 10 scam categories in the first half of 2021 – a sharp rise from S$63.5m in the same period of 2020.
The Singapore Police Force also reported a 16% in the number of reported scam cases and an 11.2% hike in overall crime.
Most recently, the police said nearly 470 people had fallen victim to SMS phishing scams involving OCBC Bank in December 2021, with total losses amounting to at least S$8.5m.
The campaign, called ’Spot the Signs’ and created by Ogilvy, uses behavioral science techniques to show how scam victims suffer from emotional and mental tolls.
It highlights the aftermath and fallout that scam victims must deal with, instead of showing a scam in progress, through juxtaposition with internal monologues that capture the train of thought that led them to fall for the scam.
NCPC hopes the ad will show how anyone can be a victim, highlighting the disappointment, desperation, anger and embarrassment of those who have been scammed.
“Scammers stay ahead of the curve by coming up with increasingly more devious ways to prey on their victims. Many in Singapore have been lulled into a false sense of security by thinking that they are immune to scams. The truth of the matter is, anyone can become a victim of scams,” said Ng Khee Jin, chairman of the public communications sub-committee of the NCPC and a creative partner at Kheej LLP.
“Therefore, NCPC needs to continue in its efforts to raise awareness and educate the public in recognizing the different signs of potential scams. We hope that the TV commercial and online video, which forms part of our NCPC anti-scam campaign, will help convey this urgent message to the general public.”
