With the passage of the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill on 4 November 2025, scammers and their syndicate members and recruiters, and those who help them such as money mules who provide them with access to their bank accounts, SIM cards or SingPass credentials, face caning as part of their punishment in the future.
Ministry of Law is over-reacting to the scale of scams, in my opinion.
Scammers and others assisting them do not cause bodily harm to their victims, and caning should not be meted out upon their conviction, in my opinion.
For example, people convicted of simple theft are not caned.
People convicted of theft in a building, tent, or vessel or theft by a clerk or servant are not caned, unless there are aggravating factors.
Interestingly, on the same day, Parliament approved the removal of caning for acts that endanger the safety of passengers under the Railway Act.
Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Sim Ann explained, “These are generally offences that do not involve intentional harm to a person nor cause significant harm to the public, and for which we assess that the other penalties are adequate."
Interestingly, too, no caning is prescribed for people convicted of circulating obscene material to ten or more people, even if the victim is under 18 years old.
Reference
1. Law passed for scammers, mules to be caned after victims in Singapore lose almost $4b since 2020 (ST, published 4 Nov 2025, 3:55 p.m., updated 5 Nov 2025, 1:24 a.m.
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