Name: Convicted scammers will be caned under Singapores new law
Uploaded: 2025-11-15T08:03:54.613Z
Duration: 2 min 56 s
Description: Singapore has passed a new law introducing mandatory caning for people convicted of scamming. The city-state already uses physical punishment for crimes like vandalism and robbery.

Singapore has passed a new law introducing mandatory caning for people convicted of scamming. The city-state already uses physical punishment for crimes like vandalism and robbery.

Marina Bay

Singapore has implemented a new law that mandates judicial caning for those convicted of scam-related offenses, in response to a significant rise in scam cases over the past five years. The legislation stipulates a minimum of six and a maximum of 24 strokes, depending on the severity of the offense, as part of efforts to deter such crimes, which now constitute 60% of all reported crimes in the country.

Authorities have intensified public education campaigns and enforcement, but the proliferation of scams in Southeast Asia, including cyber-scam hubs in neighboring countries, continues to pose challenges. The move underscores Singapore's zero-tolerance approach to scamming, though it remains to be seen whether the introduction of caning will effectively reduce these crimes.

Convicted scammers will be caned under Singapore's new law

190,000 cases at a cost of nearly $3 billion in the last five years. That's how serious scamming has become in Singapore and is why the city-state is turning to judicial caning to try and deter people from this sort of crime. Scamming now accounts for 60% of all reported crimes here. It includes love scams and fake job scams, among others. Under the new legislation, people convicted of such activity will receive a minimum of six strokes and a maximum of 24 depending on the severity of the case. To find out more, I'm meeting Joseph Estan. He's a criminal lawyer and represents clients in scam cases, several of whom have been sentenced to corporal punishment. So I think the whole idea about caning is really not a form of torture, but it's really a lesson, a physical lesson, to instil into the offender that if you do something bad, this is the physical punishment that you have to go through. Singapore's use of caning gained international attention in the 90s when an American teenager was sentenced to four strokes for vandalism. Michael Faye described the experience as excruciatingly painful and said it left permanent scars. The punishment is carried out by a specifically trained prison officer with a 1.2-metre-long rat-hand cane striking the bare buttocks of the offender under strict medical supervision. You'll be stripped naked, you'll be tied to a rack, and that is where the caning will be administered. I think the very fact that the Singapore government is introducing caning in scam cases shows a zero-tolerance approach. Singapore has intensified efforts to rein in scamming in recent years. That includes widespread public education to stop people from getting swindled. But the problem has proliferated in Southeast Asia. Cyber-scam hubs in countries like Cambodia and Myanmar have cheated people out of billions of dollars worldwide. Recently, Singapore police seized more than $100 million in assets tied to Chen Ji, a British-Cambodian national accused of operating forced labour camps running multi-billion-dollar scams. But will caning crack down on the crime? That's hard to say. Still, it sends a clear message. Scammers face stiff punishment in Singapore. Patrick Fok, Al Jazeera, Singapore. Al Jazeera, Singapore.

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