MEASURES TAKEN BY PLATFORMS
In June last year, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it would require both Facebook Marketplace and Carousell to verify the identity of all their sellers if the number of scams reported on their platforms “does not drop significantly” over a six-month assessment period.
In a review in March, the ministry noted that the number of reported scams on Carousell fell by about 11 per cent over the period, which it said “was not a significant decrease”. It added that it will continue to monitor the situation and that it may require Carousell to verify the identities of all sellers by Oct 1.
For Facebook Marketplace, MHA said it will not extend the enhanced verification requirement to all Marketplace sellers as the number of reported scams on the platform fell by about 55 per cent over the period, which it deemed as a “significant improvement”.
IMCS on Wednesday said it has been working with the major e-commerce platforms to enhance the safety of online transactions, and that the two lowest-ranked platforms – Facebook Marketplace and Carousell – have put in place various anti-scam measures.
It said that Facebook Marketplace has implemented “enhanced user verification measures for select marketplace sellers” in Singapore, and had also put up notices in product listings and its messenger app to warn consumers of the risk of e-commerce scams.
Carousell has also required Singpass verification for users who displayed “behaviours similar to known scam patterns or policy violations” since June 2024, IMCS said. From January this year, sellers could also get a verified badge after completing the Singpass verification.
