The Evolution of Scam Prevention

The Evolution of Scam Prevention: Staying Safe In The Modern World

 

In the previous article, “The Evolution of Modern Scams,” we discussed how scams have changed and become increasingly sophisticated. From the simple confidence tricks in the past to the current, more elusive AI scams, scams have rapidly evolved. It is an “arms race” for scam prevention to keep up with the threats of scams. As such, scam prevention becomes an ongoing, adaptive challenge. Scam prevention methods must be able to keep up with new scam trends to continuously ensure that we limit the losses from fraud. In this article, we will discover how scam prevention has evolved from the past to the future to adapt to new scam trends, as well as what you can do to keep yourself safe from scams. 

 

Vigilance in the Pre-Digital Age

 

In “The Evolution of Modern Scams”, we discussed how scams operate physically. Confidence tricks were the main form of scams then. These scams aim to exploit victims by manipulating their greed, naivety or compassion. One famous example is the three-card monte. Scam prevention in the past was simple, as the concept of scams was not fully grasped by law enforcement. Preventive measures were simple and generic. These included simple community watch, basic law enforcement and early public advisories. 

 

In the past, a simple community watch was one of the main factors of scam prevention. Through word-of-mouth, people within the community spread warnings of common scams to help keep each other safe. Leading figures of local communities might also warn their people of possible threats that exist within their community. Simple posters or newspaper warnings were also posted throughout the neighbourhoods to keep the people aware and vigilant. However, this spread of information dissemination was slow. People were also largely unsure about the real dangers of scams. In the past, confidence tricks preyed on victims’ emotions as well, meaning that some victims would not know that they were getting scammed. 

 

Basic law enforcement did not help much in scam prevention, as well. Law enforcement agencies like the local police focused more on post-crime apprehension. There were limited proactive measures to ensure that the people did not fall prey to scams. As such, scammers could create large networks to continuously prey on people without the fear of getting caught. 

 

Back in those days, scam prevention was basic. Those methods were sufficient for that period to keep the people safe, as scam trends were simple. However, scams continue to evolve. As such, scam prevention has to fight to keep up. 

 

Building Digital Shields: Early Response to Online Scams 

 

As the internet came into play, scammers were able to exploit these new avenues for their scams. The internet brought about an increase in scalability and anonymity for those fraudsters. This brought about the rise of email phishing as well as malware scams through mass forwarding. Scam prevention evolved too. On the internet, there are multiple prevention technologies developed to combat the rise of scams. Educational campaigns, as well as law enforcement, increased their range and capabilities to push scam prevention on a greater scale. 

 

Learn what to do if you gave personal information to a phishing scam. 

 

Internet scam prevention technologies were developed to combat the threat of scams online. In the beginning, simple anti-virus software began as a signature-based approach. These kinds of software identify malware through matching files against a database of known malware signatures. However, the threat of new and evolving malware warranted improvements in the antivirus software. Currently, that software relies on heuristic detection instead. They are now able to detect malicious software by analysing the behaviour of the program, even if it is not a known virus signature. Firewalls were also developed to keep users safe from malware online. At the time, those were basic, but sufficient, to keep individuals and businesses safe from the threats of scams online. 

 

Law enforcement had to evolve as well. Specialised cybercrime units had to be set up to target the rise of scams online. In Singapore, the Anti-Scam Centre was set up as a branch of the Commercial Affairs Department on June 18, 2019. The Centre’s main goal was to disrupt scam operations locally and mitigate scam losses for victims in the country. On 22 March 2022, the Anti-Scam Command was set up to achieve greater synergy between various scam-fighting units within the Singapore Police Force. The cohesion of such law enforcement agencies is crucial to help the people fight the evolving trend of scams across the globe. Educational campaigns evolved together with law enforcement as well, giving more targeted advice as well as more in-depth research on scam trends. 

 

Discover a case where the Anti-Scam Centre helped prevent scam losses in Singapore.

 

The Era of Smart Defences

 

Social engineering scams have become one of the major forms of scams as technology evolves. The internet became an avenue for scammers to practice old tricks, and such scams closely resemble confidence tricks of the past. However, such online scams are much more dangerous. These attacks are highly targeted and sophisticated. Scammers are much more elusive and are able to make a fraudulent scheme seem completely legitimate. As such, scam prevention had to evolve to fight these trends. The examples below demonstrate just some of the major scam prevention techniques that we use today. 

 

One of the main forms of scam prevention in today’s world is multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA refers to a security measure that requires users to verify their identities through two or more distinct features, such as their phone or their physical appearance. Interestingly, MFA emerged in the early 1990s, but was not fully adopted until the mid-2000s with the rise of smartphones. Widespread adoption of MFA only began in the 2010s as organisations realised the need for added security online. Ever since, it has been the mainstay of internet account security. 

 

With the rapid advancements of Artificial Intelligence (AI) come improvements in fraud detection. Machine Learning (ML) and AI are technological advancements that law enforcement and public companies are leveraging to combat the threat of scams in today’s world. They can significantly enhance fraud detection by identifying suspicious patterns and behaviours that traditional rule-based systems might miss. These enhanced systems can better detect fraud with improved accuracy through adaptive learning and pattern recognition. Additionally, these can help to automate many fraud detection tasks, freeing up human resources. An example of AI and ML in use would be in banks. The Singapore Police Force’s Anti-Scam Centre integrated robotic process automation into its operations. These automations help create a standardised format for the sharing of information on suspicious transactions with local banks. Such automation can monitor potential red flags of fraud, such as different user behaviours on an internet banking account or a different device from which the internet banking transactions are being done. This is also an example of Threat Intelligence Sharing. Companies, governments and cybersecurity firms around the globe recognise the threats of scams. Thus, there is a common want for firms and governmental bodies to share the knowledge of scams as well as scam prevention strategies to better prepare ourselves to deal with the threat of scams. 

 

To better protect citizens, governments around the world are also setting stricter laws on scams and cybercrimes. There are greater policies and regulatory responses as lawmakers recognise the importance of tightening down on such fraudsters due to the damage they cause to society. The Anti-Scam Command works closely with private firms and other governmental agencies to ensure that consumers are able to keep themselves safe from scams. On January 7 2025, the Singapore Parliament passed a beefed-up Protection from Scams Bill. This bill enabled the police to be able to issue orders to banks to prevent banking transactions of people who do not believe that they are being scammed. Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling mentioned that such police powers would be a last resort for scam prevention after consultation with the victim and their family members. 

 

In October 2024, the Anti-Scam Command marked a step forward in regional scam prevention by formalising the Project FRONTIER+. This involves the alliance of anti-scam units from seven countries, which include Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, the Republic of Maldives, the Republic of Korea and Thailand. These initiatives aim to effectively tackle transnational scams through the dissemination of information, as well as to improve cross-border asset recovery and scam prevention measures. 

 

See how international cooperation managed to prevent scam losses in Singapore!

 

Besides such policies, government bodies have also come up with better education and reporting platforms for the people to stay safe from scams. The Scamshield app was first developed in November 2020 to help members of the public block scam calls, detect scam SMSs and share information on scams. The Scamshield suite was officially launched on 27 September 2024, which consolidated all the anti-scam resources under a single brand. The Scamshield suite involves the Scamshield website, Scamshield app and the Scamshield hotline. 

Learn how to effectively make use of Scamshield in scam prevention. 

The AI Arms Race: Preventing Scams of The Future

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are key tools that law enforcement and firms use to combat the threat of scams and enhance scam prevention. However, these tools can be deadly when used in the wrong hands. Scammers are able to exploit such technology in their scam tactics, making scams much more elusive and dangerous. As mentioned in “The Evolution of Modern Scams”, scammers can make use of ML and AI to create new scam tactics such as deepfakes, voice cloning or AI-generated texts or emails. 

 

Scam prevention has to evolve to combat the threat of these new forms of scams. To combat deepfakes, government firms and bodies make use of advanced deepfake detection. These utilise sophisticated AI techniques to identify manipulated media, focusing on subtle anomalies to spot fakes. AI-enhanced Identity Verification also serves as a more robust authentication method to protect accounts. These can include biometric or document verification that offers increased speed and accuracy to protect accounts from being manipulated or hacked. These are just some of the preventive innovations that firms and governments are using to keep people safe online. However, there is a need for continued innovation as scammer tactics continue to evolve. There are still limitations for which technology can fully assist individuals and firms in scam prevention. Thus, there is still a need for human cooperation. 

 

The Zero-Trust Architecture is a main cybersecurity framework that individuals and firms follow to stay safe from scams. It follows the principles of “Never trust, always verify”, which means that every user, device and application must be authenticated and authorised before being granted access to any resource, regardless of whether they are within or outside the network perimeter. This cybersecurity principle helps individuals and businesses be more vigilant and cautious of potential data breaches. There will be enhanced security and reduced risk of breaches as a result. 

 

These are just some of the many new scam prevention strategies implemented and created by experts to keep users safe in this new age of fraud. Scams are getting more sophisticated and harder to spot, and it is up to constant innovation to keep pace with the threat of deception. 

 

In conclusion, this “arms race” will continue. As scammers continue to come up with new ways to cheat people out of their money or personal information, it is important that we do our best to prevent falling prey. Although improved technology can enable scammers to be able to be more elusive, the combined power of technology, education and human vigilance is greater. As long as we all do our part, we can limit the losses from scams as much as possible. For a deeper dive into the methodologies of modern scams, read our companion article: The Evolution of Modern Scams. 

 

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