Contact details of many public officers in Singapore Government Directory removed to fight scams
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SINGAPORE - The contact details of many public officers in an online directory have been removed in a bid to reduce the risk of scams.
The Singapore Government Directory previously contained the names, e-mail addresses and office phone numbers of a large number of public officers.
Since July 1, it has been “streamlined”, and now lists contact information mainly for political office holders, judicial appointment holders, senior management and director-level officers or the equivalent and above, including heads of department, said the Ministry of Digital Development and Information in a media reply on Aug 4.
The ministry said this move is part of its efforts to better safeguard public officers’ contact information amid rising risks of government official impersonation scams and phishing.
“It will also provide a more consistent and user-friendly experience for the public with clearer and more streamlined listings, as well as more prominent official contact channels,” added the ministry.
It said it has also made the official feedback and quality service manager channels of government agencies more prominent in the directory.
This is so that the public will have clearer points of contact for inquiries and feedback, and can reach out to the relevant agencies through the listings on the directory, added the ministry.
In 2025, the number of government officials impersonation scams reported soared to 3,363 cases, from 1,504 cases in 2024.
These include scammers impersonating staff from the Singapore Police Force, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and Ministry of Law.
In such ruses, scammers call potential victims on the phone and tell them that there are suspicious transactions on their credit cards, for instance.
The calls are then transferred to fake government officials accusing victims of offences such as money laundering.
The victims are then told to transfer money to unknown accounts, or hand over cash or other valuables, purportedly for investigation purposes.
Victims lost $242.9 million to such scams in 2025, up from $151.3 million in 2024. This is the second-highest amount lost among all scam types in 2025.
Investment scams saw the largest loss in 2025, with victims losing $336.2 million.
- Additional reporting by Clay Lim