How to report a crypto scam in Singapore

If you have been scammed with cryptocurrency in Singapore, do two things today: lodge a police report through the Singapore Police Force e-service, and put the wallet addresses on the public record.

The police report opens an investigation. The public record works straight away — the address becomes visible to exchange compliance teams, to investigators, and to the next person about to transfer to it. Two jobs; neither covers the other.

Speed is most of the case. The police's fastest lever is the local bank account the money passed through, and it exists only while the funds are still there.

Key takeaways

• Lodge the police report through the Police Report e-service on police.gov.sg. That is the formal report. Call 999 or SMS 70999 if there is an immediate threat; the Police Hotline is 1800 255 0000.
• i-Witness is not a police report. SPF says so on the i-Witness page itself. Use it to pass on information; use the e-service to report your loss.
• The 1799 ScamShield Helpline is a 24/7 line for checking whether something is a scam. It is run by the National Crime Prevention Council, not the police, and a call is not a report.
• SPF's Cyber Command is its own stated "lead unit combating scams and cybercrime". Your police report puts your case into that machinery.
• MAS cannot help you recover crypto losses — not even where the platform is MAS-regulated. Its Investor Alert List is a before-you-transfer check, not a complaints channel.
• Without destination addresses, transaction hashes and uncropped screenshots, there is nothing to work with.

What to do in the first hours

Stop transferring. Most victims make one final payment because a tax, a "profit release fee" or an account-upgrade charge is supposedly outstanding. That money is gone, and the demand is your answer.

Then, in this order:

1. Copy every destination address and transaction hash (TXID). They are in your wallet history or your exchange records. The most useful single item in the report.
2. Screenshot everything before it disappears. Full WhatsApp, Telegram or WeChat threads, the profile that approached you, the platform's website, the dashboard showing your supposed profits. These sites are pulled within days.
3. Call your bank. If any part moved through PayNow, FAST, a card or a bank transfer, tell them now and ask for a recall attempt. This is the leg with real recovery odds and the shortest clock.
4. Tell the exchange you bought or sent from. Give them the receiving address so they can flag it, and act if the funds landed with them.
5. Lodge the police report.

If you were told to install remote-access or "customer support" software, remove it and change your passwords. Assume they had the device.

Where to report

Singapore Police Force — the Police Report e-service

Scams are reported through the Police Report e-service on police.gov.sg — SPF's own description is "a crime that does not require immediate police action such as a theft or a scam" — which you access by logging in as an individual. Call 999 or SMS 70999 in an emergency. The Police Hotline is 1800 255 0000, or +65 6255 0000 from abroad.

Bring the material into the report itself. A report reading "I was cheated online" carries no case. SPF tells you to read ScamShield's checklist first, so note what is on it: dates, mode of contact, the scammer's numbers and links, screenshots, "copies of any bank or financial transactions". Nothing asks for a wallet address or a hash. Add them yourself.

Cyber Command, and the Anti-Scam Command

On SPF's own organisational chart, Cyber Command is "the lead unit combating scams and cybercrime", and its Cyber Operations Centre covers disruption and "the recovery of scams and cybercrime proceeds". Its Cybercrime Investigation Branch is where a crypto case lands.

The Anti-Scam Command (ASCom), stood up in March 2022, is the name SPF's press releases still use for the bank-facing work; its Anti-Scam Centre and five banks disrupted over 1,300 scams in one two-month operation in 2024.

You report to none of them directly. The police report is the entry point, and the sooner it exists the more of that apparatus is still useful.

i-Witness — and what it is not

i-Witness lets anyone pass information about criminal or suspicious activity to the police, which may support an investigation or surface an unreported crime. It is the right channel for the Telegram group, the recruiter's handle, the fake platform you spotted but did not pay.

It is not your report. SPF states it plainly: "This is not a police report. If you wish to lodge a police report, you should file a non-urgent Police Report online." Stop there and you have given intelligence without filing a complaint.

What documentation to gather

• Every destination wallet address you sent to
• The transaction hash (TXID) for each payment, with date and time
• Full, uncropped screenshots of every conversation
• The exact URL of the platform, the profile, the advert and the withdrawal page
• Bank and card statements, PayNow and FAST records, your crypto purchase records
• Names, numbers, emails and social handles used to contact you
• Any local bank account or PayNow number you were told to pay
• A written timeline: first contact, each payment, last contact

Check before you pay — MAS registers and the Investor Alert List

MAS publishes three things worth ten minutes before any transfer. The Investor Alert List at mas.gov.sg/investor-alert-list names unregulated persons, here and overseas, who may have been wrongly perceived as licensed or authorised by MAS. The Financial Institutions Directory shows which institutions are regulated and for what — MAS regulates only entities with a presence in Singapore — and the Financial Institution Representatives Register lists the individuals they appoint.

The list is not exhaustive, so a name's absence is no clearance. And deal with an unregulated person and you forgo the protections MAS regulation gives.

All of that is a before, not an after. On what MAS can do once the money is gone, ScamShield is blunt: "MAS is unable to help with money losses through cryptocurrency investments or transactions, even if the cryptocurrency provider is an entity regulated by MAS." The police report is the route to an investigation.

Why the 1799 helpline is not the report

This is the distinction that costs Singaporeans the most time, and it is not obvious.

ScamShield — the app, scamshield.gov.sg, the messaging channels and the 24/7 1799 helpline — was set up jointly by the Ministry of Home Affairs, SPF, the National Crime Prevention Council and Open Government Products. The helpline is run by the NCPC: a crime-prevention organisation, not a police unit.

1799 is for checking. You have a message, a link, a job offer, a "financial adviser" on Telegram, and you want to know before you act. Call it. Government officials will never ask you to transfer money or disclose bank log-in details over a phone call — police.gov.sg carries that on every page — and that shape has an official name here: the Government Officials Impersonation Scam, which ScamShield lists first of the three ways Singaporeans lose crypto, ahead of investment and job scams.

What 1799 is not is a police report. Calling it lodges nothing and creates no case reference. Neither does i-Witness. The e-service does.

Can I get my money back?

Sometimes. Much less often than the offers suggest.

It turns on one question: did the funds reach a service with compliance obligations — a licensed exchange, a payment provider, a Singapore bank account — before they were dispersed? If they did, and a police report exists, there is a path. Straight on-chain, through a mixer, or into an uncooperative jurisdiction, that path narrows to almost nothing.

Note where the strength is, because Singapore's own law draws the line. The Protection from Scams Act 2025, in force since 1 July 2025, lets a police officer or Commercial Affairs Officer order a bank in Singapore to restrict someone's transactions and credit facilities. That is its whole reach: bank rails. There is no equivalent order against a wallet, which is exactly why crypto is the rail these syndicates prefer.

Nobody can quote you a percentage honestly. Anyone who does it over the phone, without having seen a single transaction, is selling something.

Beware of "fund recovery" offers

Weeks later, someone offers to recover the money. SPF issues advisories on it — in August 2026, on people offering to recover losses from a collapsed platform, who then asked victims for a deposit, a tax payment or a fee. Sometimes they claim to be lawyers, sometimes insiders at an exchange, SPF or MAS.

It is the same network, or someone who bought the victim list. The tells:

• They contacted you
• Money is required before anything happens
• The outcome is guaranteed
• There are supposed insider contacts

No Singapore government agency asks for an advance payment to return your money.

Why put the address on the public record

An investigation moves at the speed of an investigation. A public record works immediately.

Post the address, the hash and the website on Chainabuse and that entry is visible to exchange compliance teams, to investigators, and to anyone searching that address before they transfer. Chainabuse is free, open to everyone, and aggregates reports against the same address — isolated cases become a pattern.

Often the person it saves is the one who searches two weeks later and finds the warning.

Frequently asked questions

1. Where do I report a crypto scam in Singapore?

Lodge a police report through the Police Report e-service on police.gov.sg, or call the Police Hotline on 1800 255 0000. Call 999 or SMS 70999 if there is an immediate threat. Report the wallet address publicly as well, so exchanges and investigators can see it straight away.

2. Is i-Witness the same as lodging a police report?

No. SPF states on its i-Witness page: "This is not a police report. If you wish to lodge a police report, you should file a non-urgent Police Report online." i-Witness is for passing on information about criminal or suspicious activity, not for reporting your own loss.

3. Does calling 1799 count as reporting the scam?

No. The 1799 ScamShield Helpline is a 24/7 line for checking whether something is a scam, run by the National Crime Prevention Council. It is the right call before you pay. Afterwards you still need to lodge the police report.

4. Can MAS help me recover money lost to a crypto scam?

No. ScamShield states it directly: "MAS is unable to help with money losses through cryptocurrency investments or transactions, even if the cryptocurrency provider is an entity regulated by MAS." Its Investor Alert List and directories are pre-transfer checks. The police report is the route to an investigation.

5. What documents do I need?

Destination wallet addresses, the transaction hash for each payment with date and time, uncropped screenshots of the conversations, the platform's exact URL, bank and PayNow records, a written timeline.

6. Is it worth reporting if I only lost a small amount?

Yes. These syndicates operate at scale and the same receiving address collects from dozens of victims. A small report can be the entry that links the rest.

7. Does reporting to Chainabuse replace the police report?

No — do both. The police report opens the investigation in Singapore. The Chainabuse report makes the address visible to exchanges and investigators in every country the money may reach.