India, Nov. 8 -- Singapore has moved to toughen its stance on online fraud, approving changes to the law that will allow caning for convicted scammers, alongside prison terms and fines.

The measure reflects the scale of the country's scam problem, which has grown sharply over the past few years.

Since 2020, scam victims in Singapore have reported losses totaling around S$3.8 billion (US$2.9 billion). Last year alone, losses reached a record S$1.1 billion, Bloomberg reports.

In just the first half of 2025, nearly 20,000 cases were logged, with losses hitting S$456 million. Scams now make up about 60% of all reported crime in the city-state.

Part of the surge has been tied to large scam networks operating from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos...