SINGAPORE — Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is reportedly reviewing Meta’s efforts to curb scams involving impersonations of government officials, following a directive issued under the country’s new Online Criminal Harms Act (Ocha).

According to a report in Singapore’s The Straits Times today, MHA submitted documentation on October 31 to the Ocha Competent Authority, which will assess Meta’s compliance with the directive.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, was reportedly instructed by police on September 24 to remove scam advertisements, accounts and business pages impersonating government office-holders.

The company had until Sept 30 to comply, with non-compliance carrying a fine of up to S$1 million (RM3.2 million) and an additional S$100,000 per day for continuing offences.

Authorities said the directive — the first of its kind under Ocha — was issued after a surge in scams using images and videos of top officials in fake Facebook ads and pages.

MHA noted that while Meta has taken some global steps to tackle impersonation scams, such fraudulent activity remains widespread in Singapore.

In the first half of 2025, scam victims in Singapore lost S$126.5 million, nearly double the losses recorded a year earlier, with impersonation scams involving government officials almost tripling to 1,762 cases.