Rampant scams cost Singapore $734m in fraud losses in 2025, report says

A new global audit report found $17.75b in total illicit activity, driven by organised crime and drug trafficking.

Singapore’s total fraud losses reached $734m (US$573m) in 2025, with consumer and business scams (authorised) accounting for $423m (US$330m), the largest category, according to the Nasdaq Global Financial Crime Report 2026.

Employment fraud totalled $117m (US$91m), whilst cyber-enabled fraud reached $73m (US$57m).

Confidence and romance fraud amounted to $63m (US$49m), advance fee scams $56m (US$44m), business email compromise $44m (US$34m), impersonation scams $27m (US$21m), and phishing/data breaches combined reached $4m (US$3m).

Unauthorised bank fraud totalled $311m (US$243m), including account-to-account payments $207m (US$162m), check fraud $61m (US$48m), and credit card fraud $42m (US$33m) whilst elder victim fraud reached $324m (US$253m).

Elsewhere, money laundering and other illicit activity in Singapore totalled $17.75b (US$13.84b) in 2025 with domestic illicit funds moving at $16.40b (US$12.79b), whilst cross-border activity totalled $1.36b (US$1.06b).

Organised crime, corruption, and other illicit activity contributed $11.58b (US$9.05b), with drug trafficking at $3.86b (US$3.01b), human trafficking at $2.27b (US$1.77b), and terrorist financing reaching $38m (US$30m).

Total money mule activity was $1.24b (US$970m), including $1.06b (US$827m) domestic and $179m (US$140m) cross-border.

For regional context, financial crime in the Asia-Pacific region totalled $10.95t (US$1.4t) in 2025, with fraud losses of $1.84t (US$235b) whilst globally, total illicit activity reached $34.41t (US$4.4t), including fraud losses of $4.53t (US$579.4b) and cross-border flows of $3.77t (US$482.9b).

The report also highlighted technology-driven risks, noting that 90% of surveyed financial professionals observed an increase in AI-driven attacks.

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