Singapore Orders Google And Apple To Prevent Government Agencies Incognito In Message Services

Illustration of Singapore (photo: dock. pexles)

JAKARTA The Singapore government ordered Apple and Google to prevent accounts in their messaging services using names that resemble government agencies. This is done, as an effort to suppress the increase in cases of fraud under the guise of official institutions.

Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on November 25 stated that the two technology companies had a deadline of November 30 to comply with the directive.

They have to make sure the accounts or groups on iMessage and Google Messages can't use a name that imitates gov.sg or other government agencies. Otherwise, they are required to block or filter messages from suspicious senders.

In addition, the profile name of an unknown sender must be limited in appearance, or displayed with a size/placement that is less prominent than the phone number. This step aims to make it easier for users to recognize messages from strangers and increase their awareness of potential fraud.

Since July 2024, the Singapore government has used the sender ID gov.sg' to make it easier for people to recognize official government messages. However, this identification does not apply to messages via iMessage and Google Messages. This opens up opportunities for fraudsters to send messages with fake gov.sg IDs on both platforms.

Singapore police also noted the misuse of other sender IDs, including more than 120 cases of fraudsters posing as SingPost. The government considers additional protection measures need to be applied to prevent irregularities in Apple and Google's messaging services.

The MHA confirmed that the two companies had expressed their willingness to comply with directives published on November 24 under the Online Criminal Harms Act, a law that took effect in February 2024.

Losses due to fraud involving government officials' disguises increased sharply. In the first six months of 2025, the victim lost USD 126.5 million, up nearly 90 percent compared to USD 67.2 million in the same period in 2024. The number of cases also jumped from 589 cases to 1,762 cases.

Responding to government directives, a Google spokesperson stated that the company supports Singapore's efforts to maintain user security. Google is working with the government to implement additional preventive measures in RCS (Rich Communication Services)-based messages on Google Messages. The RCS feature allows high-resolution photo delivery and end-to-end encrypted conversations.

Google also mentioned that this step complements existing security features, including spam detection.

MHA urges Singaporeans to regularly update iMessage and Google Messages applications to ensure the latest anti-spoofing protection is active on their devices.