SINGAPORE: Carousell has announced plans to introduce a new slate of safeguards by the end of January next year to curb the misuse of verified accounts for scams.
In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) noted that authorities received nearly 10 per cent more reports of Carousell-related e-commerce fraud between April and June this year compared with the same period in 2023. Despite the rise in reports, the ministry highlighted that the total number of fraud cases occurring on the platform actually fell by 36 per cent year-on-year.
Police investigations have found that an increasing number of scammers have been exploiting Singpass-verified Carousell accounts to carry out fraudulent transactions. Verification via Singpass is intended to boost accountability by tying online accounts to real-world identities, but scammers have turned to gaining control of these verified profiles to appear more credible to victims.
In response, Carousell has committed to putting in place additional preventative measures by January 31 next year. These include strengthening its verification procedures to stop the misuse of verified accounts, suspending accounts that have been transferred to scammers, and blacklisting Singpass accounts found to have been used to verify fraudulent Carousell profiles. Blacklisted Singpass accounts will no longer be allowed to verify new Carousell accounts.
MHA added that it will continue monitoring the effectiveness of the rotating auction measures currently in place to reduce e-commerce scams. The ministry said it will issue further directions on these rotating auctions if necessary as part of ongoing efforts to tackle online fraud.
