When charged with a criminal offence or slapped with a civil lawsuit, some do not know whom to turn to, while others realise there is help only late in the process.
This is despite publicity surrounding pro bono services for criminal and non-criminal matters, and free advice regularly offered at legal clinics. For example, the Migrant Workers’ Centre holds such a clinic every first and third Saturday of the month.
The issue of access to legal help was highlighted this month in the case involving Indonesian Parti Liyani. Accused of theft in 2016 by her employers and convicted for the crime, the former maid was cleared of all charges earlier this month after her pro bono lawyer Anil Balchandani fought for her acquittal.
Her employers of eight years were Changi Airport Group’s former chairman Liew Mun Leong and his family.
It was a non-governmental organisation (NGO) – the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) – that helped her secure a lawyer.
The Police have continued to see an increase in phishing scams cases involving emails and text messages, with more than 220 reports lodged since January 2020.
Victims of such phishing scams received emails or text messages by scammers impersonating entities the victims know or trust, such as banks, government agencies, trade unions, or companies such as SingPost, StarHub, Netflix, PayPal and DHL. These emails and text messages make fake offers or claims to trick recipients into clicking on an URL link. Such fake offers or claims include outstanding payment for parcel delivery, disruptions to services or subscriptions, refunds, or promotions. Upon clicking on the URL links, victims will be redirected to fraudulent websites where they are tricked into providing their credit/debit card details and One-Time Password (OTP). Victims only realised that they have been scammed when they discovered unauthorised transactions made using their credit/debit card.
As year-end online shopping events such as the “eGSS 2020” approaches, members of the public may be exposed to such phishing scams as they come across fake online offers or expect deliveries for their online purchases. Members of the public are advised to follow these crime prevention measures:
Do not click on URL links provided in unsolicited emails and text messages;
Always verify the authenticity of the information with the official website or sources;
Never disclose your personal or Internet banking details and OTP to anyone; and
Report any fraudulent credit/debit card charges to your bank and cancel your card immediately.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. Together, we can help stop scams and prevent our loved ones from falling prey to scams.
Annex A
Images of Scam Emails, SMS and Phishing Websites
Image 1: Screenshot of phishing SMS directing victims to phishing website
Images 2 – 6: Screenshot of phishing website requesting victims to enter their personal information
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Images 7 and 8: Screenshot of phishing SMS directing victims to fake website impersonating SingPost
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Image 9 and 10: Screenshot of payment page impersonating SingPost requesting victims to enter their payment card details.
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Image 11: Screenshot of phishing email impersonating Netflix
Image 12: Screenshot of payment page impersonating Netflix requesting victims to enter their payment card details.
Image 13 and 14: Screenshots of phishing email impersonating Starhub
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Image 15 and 16: Screenshots of phishing email impersonating Starhub
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Image 17 and 18: Screenshots of login and payment pages impersonating Starhub requesting victims to enter their payment card details.
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Image 19: Screenshot of phishing email impersonating Paypal
Image 20: Screenshot of payment page impersonating Paypal requesting victims to enter their payment card details.
Image 21: Screenshot of phishing email impersonating DHL
Image 22 and 23: Screenshots of payment page impersonating DHL requesting victims to enter their payment card details.
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PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE 18 September 2020 @ 10:10 AM
The Police have arrested a 25-year-old woman for her suspected involvement in a series of e-commerce scam involving the sale of Nintendo Switch gaming consoles.
In September 2020, the Police received several reports from victims who were purportedly cheated by an online seller advertising Nintendo Switch gaming consoles at discounted prices on Carousell and Facebook. After payments were made by the victims via bank transfers and PayNow/Paylah, the seller became uncontactable.
Through investigations and collaboration with Carousell, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department established the identity of the woman and arrested her on 18 September 2020. Preliminary investigations revealed that the woman is believed to have cheated more than 10 victims of more than $4,000.
Police investigations are ongoing. The offence of cheating under section 420 of the Penal Code is punishable with an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, and a fine.
The Police take a serious view of persons who may be involved in scams and frauds, and perpetrators will be dealt with, in accordance with the law. The Police would like to advise members of the public to be very careful when making online purchases:
Opt for buyer protection by using in-built payment options that release payment to the seller only upon delivery. Whenever possible, avoid making advance payments or direct bank transfers to the seller.
Scammers may entice buyers to contact them directly through messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or WeChat by offering a better or faster deal if bank transfer payments are made directly to them. They may also use a local bank account or provide a copy of a NRIC/driver’s licence to make you believe that they are genuine sellers. Do not fall for it!
If the price is too good to be true, it probably is. Purchase only from authorised sellers or reputable sources, especially for high-value items.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam hotline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police hotline at 1800-255 0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE 18 September 2020 @ 1:00 PM
The Government is embarking on a comprehensive review of issues affecting women to bring about a mindset change on values like gender equality and mutual respect for women.
The review will engage and work with partners from the people and private sectors as well as women’s and youth groups, said Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam.
It will be led by three women political office holders, he added.
They are Minister of State for Education and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling, Parliamentary Secretary for Education, and Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling, and Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam.
The ideas and suggestions gathered through these dialogues and discussions will be tabled as a White Paper in Parliament in the first half of next year, Mr Shanmugam said.
Speaking at the start of a virtual dialogue on Sunday (Sept 20), he said while Singapore has taken great strides to level the playing field for women, gender equality remains a work in progress.
As the first of our major telcos, StarHub has price plans up and ready for the latest Apple mobile devices. If you’re interested in picking up the new iPad or Apple Watch models, you can check out StarHub’s microsite here.
In a nutshell, customers can start buying the new Apple products through the StarHub Online store. Delivery is free-of-charge. Customers can also start buying the Apple Watch wearables at select StarHub store. The 8th-gen iPad will be available at physical stores ‘shortly’, with no specified timeline. The 4th-gen iPad Air’s availability details are still yet to be announced.
The Mobile+ plans that come with the devices are bundled with free Caller Number Display, one year of StarHub TV+ and Apple TV+, three months of free 50GB iCloud storage subscriptions, free SIM card, and free registration. The StarHub NumberShare e-SIM service is also free for the first three months for the Apple Watch devices.
A massive fire that broke out at the Sembawang God of Wealth Temple on Friday night (Sept 18) killed three of the seven dogs that lived on the premises but left the statues of various deities intact.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman told The Straits Times on Saturday (Sept 19) that firefighters found three dog carcasses during their night operations.
It took firefighters about three hours, from 9.15pm to midnight, to extinguish the fire. They then continued to spray water on the burnt surfaces for several hours to prevent the fire from rekindling, a process known as damping down.
The temple management said in a Facebook post on Saturday that it had been caring for seven stray dogs.
“We do not chain up our dogs and they are free to roam the temple compound during the night,” the temple said.
“Unfortunately, we have lost three of them as they were trapped on the second level when the fire broke out. The remaining four managed to escape and are safe.”
Enforcement officer John (not his real name for operational reasons) was shocked when he turned up at Hai Xian Lao restaurant in Shaw House to conduct an inspection on Aug 14.
He never expected that the safe distancing rules he was supposed to enforce would be used against him at the restaurant.
“(The restaurant’s staff) tried their best to delay our entrance into the premises, saying that the restaurant was filled to maximum capacity, or telling us that they had to take our temperatures before we could enter,” said John, one of about 3,000 enforcement officers, safe distancing ambassadors and SG Clean ambassadors deployed daily throughout the island to ensure safe distancing rules are adhered to.
As the restaurant’s staff stalled for time, the enforcement officers saw close to 30 customers exiting through the restaurant’s back door.
Investigations revealed that the customers were seated in a locked private room within the restaurant, which John said could hold only about 20 people comfortably.
The raised minimum salaries for hiring foreigners on work passes have caused sleepless nights for some foreign graduates of Singapore universities.
Those who had received subsidies from the Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Tuition Grant Scheme (TGS) are obligated to work in a Singapore-registered company for three years upon graduation.
But in this tough climate, where even local graduates are struggling to find jobs, these foreign graduates have it worse as companies are urged to maintain a workforce with a Singapore core.
Some worry about having to pay back their bonds of up to $100,000 if they remain jobless after a year, and staying in Singapore while unemployed creates further financial pressure.
Unlike government scholarships, the TGS does not guarantee its recipients a job in the civil service.
Difficulties finding a job
Six of the 10 international students The Sunday Times spoke to have not been able to land a job in the past four months.
SINGAPORE: An acquaintance of mine recently told me about his experience with his online neighbourhood chat group.
He was only two days into joining this community on WhatsApp when a frantic neighbour started accusing others in the chat group of stealing her plants and threatened to call the police on them.
The next day there was another storm in the chat group when another member took offence at the neighbourhood committee chairperson sending notice of a regular online chat session with the local Member of Parliament.
His grievance: This chat should be apolitical. After being reprimanded by other members for over-reacting and not understanding the intent of the message, he exited the group in a huff.
Such stories – bad and good – are not uncommon these days. In recent years, there has been a growing number of Instant Messaging (IM) groups within residential communities – whether on WhatsApp, Telegram or Facebook Messenger, among others.
These groups are not limited to high-density residential communities in HDB and private condominium estates but are found in landed estates as well.
IM groups enable people to get to know their neighbours better beyond a nod of the head and a “hello” in the elevator.
For instance, a group of Punggol residents, who first came together to save on shipping costs for overseas purchases, eventually started meeting for meals, with kids and the elderly in tow. In Boon Lay, some residents have organised gatherings for bird enthusiasts in the estate.
These chat groups bring residents with similar interests together – to brainstorm ideas for reducing waste or saving costs in the estate, for example.
Punggol residents fight spread of coronavirus with kampung spirit. (Photo: Matthew Mohan)
In doing so, they have also become a way for people to participate in community life. Some members of these groups attest to how such chat groups bring back the kampung spirit. Members become more involved in the community’s welfare, even flagging suspicious activity or faulty public amenities to one another.
Research on the impact of online communities goes back to pre-social media days and show that interactions among like-minded people have several benefits. Proponents of online communities such as Howard Rheingold talked about a new kind of social organisation — one that is based on free expression, a non-hierarchical structure, many-to-many access and volunteer effort.
People gather online and participate in communal activities such as exchanging information, offering advice and providing assistance to one another.
However, as with all group interactions, neighbourhood chat groups have their pitfalls and pains. Neighbours sometimes bicker online over communal matters – shoe spreading in the common corridor and dog poop in walkways, for example. And a loquacious few spam chat groups with irrelevant information and fake news.
I have heard that, during the circuit breaker, some residents who flouted social distancing rules were named and shamed in their community IM groups, creating discord.
This damage to affective ties in a chat group can spill over to the real world and disrupt relationships between neighbours.
So, while digital platforms such as IM apps can bring communities together, the opposite can also be true. Measures are needed, therefore, to ensure these groups work effectively, without harming the social fabric of the neighbourhood.
These measures should take into account three fundamental features of computer-mediated communication – the social psychology of media use, its frictionless nature and the importance of moderation.
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MEDIA USE
Ever wondered why people online always seem livelier, more spontaneous and have more to say than their real selves?
At what point should one take the online conversation offline? (Photo: Pixabay/Rawpixel)
Asynchronicity and seeming invisibility are key features of the online medium. They exert a disinhibitive effect and encourage excessive responses. This means we end up saying a lot more online than we would face-to-face with another person.
When we communicate online, we also lack the social cues that we are accustomed to receiving in the real world. Online communication is characterised by economic expressions, abbreviations and emoticons.
In the real world, we read facial expressions, body language, change in pitch and tone. A raise of an eyebrow or a shift of the eyes can clue us into how people are responding to our repartee, prompting us to change the direction of the conversation, clarify our intentions or even apologise before further damage is done.
So, before jumping into a conversation or posting a comment in a chat, we should pause and ask if we would say the same thing in person. We would all benefit from recognising the social psychological forces at play whenever we engage in online communication.
FRICTIONLESS NATURE OF MEDIA USE
The term “frictionless” gained widespread notoriety after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg used it to describe changes to the platform’s technical infrastructure.
A frictionless experience is one that enables users to interact with content and with one another with minimal effort. In such an environment, immediate reactions are given greater premium over reflection.
A mobile phone user. (File photo: AFP)
In the past, sharing things online required a lot more effort. Before clicking the “send” button, we had to first copy the URL or an entire chunk of text, open up an email or a message box, and then paste the URL or text.
Today, the “forward” and “share” options make information-sharing a breeze, and this lack of “friction’’ is a key contributor to the spread of undesirable content, such as hate speech and false information.
Such seemingly “thought-less” behaviour can have its pitfalls as we may inadvertently forward messages that may offend or alienate others for the composition of such neighbourhood groups are rarely homogenous.
Research, such as the one published by Natalie Dixon of Goldsmiths College in 2017, shows that while neighbours join such groups for security and neighbourliness, it can often be a double-edged sword. “A WhatsApp group chat offers a sense of rootedness among the flows of people and things in a neighbourhood.
This sense can be understood to hold, even stabilise, a community through feelings of collective presence and being in this together.”
She added that this very process can however also alienate others.
It is no wonder that the likes of Instagram and Twitter are beginning to recognise the pitfalls of frictionless environments.
Late last year, leveraging on artificial intelligence to detect bullying on its platform, Instagram rolled out in selected countries a hate-speech filter that warns users of the potential offensiveness of their content before they post.
And in June this year, Twitter said it will begin testing a new feature that will prompt users to think before they tweet articles that they have not read to “promote informed discussion”.
To introduce friction in neighbourhood chat groups, bots can be used to send reminders and mini interventions to users to prompt reflection and suppress their instinct to respond immediately.
Late last year, leveraging on artificial intelligence to detect bullying on its platform, Instagram rolled out in selected countries a hate-speech filter. AFP/ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS
For instance, Telegram users who start chats and channels can either develop their own bots or consider options, some of which are free, from a growing market of bot developers.
MODERATION IS KEY
In addition to leveraging technical tools to increase friction, the third integral ingredient for civil group communication is moderation. In a face-to-face group chat, an individual, either designated or self-designated, plays the role of a moderator. This person ensures everyone has a say, minimises domination by any individuals or groups, and upholds decorum.
In the context of neighbourhood chat groups, it is usually easier to start than sustain online communities. Usually, there are no ground rules when a community chat group is started, simply because they tend to be intimate groups of a few people.
However, these groups can grow quickly in size. So, ground rules should be set up early and moderators appointed. Moderators should be active and consistent in ensuring compliance with the desired etiquette, deal with problematic users, and intervene when discussions get heated.
What could also work is when all members assume the responsibility for protecting the space and making it safe for all.
Moving ahead, one thing is clear. In order for people to reap the benefits of an instant community in a neighbourhood chat group, time and effort are needed to ensure an inclusive space for all, just as in the real world.
Carol Soon is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Society & Culture department at the Institute of Policy Studies. She is also Vice Chair of the Media Literacy Council and Principal Investigator at the NUS Centre for Trusted Internet and Community.
SINGAPORE: When I first read Singapore Airlines (SIA) is considering launching “flights to nowhere”, I thought it was a bad joke. Surely, if you get on a plane, you want to get somewhere, right?
To be fair, SIA is not the first airline to come up with this idea. Taiwan’s EVA Airlines offered something similar on a Hello Kitty-themed plane earlier in August, to satisfy pent-up demand from grounded travellers.
The SIA Group – comprising SIA, SilkAir and Scoot – is facing an unprecedented crunch, and could clearly use some help in keeping afloat. It’s currently operating at 8 per cent of its capacity compared to pre-COVID times, and has cut about 4,300 positions across the three airlines.
There are also some basic facts we cannot ignore. Planes cannot be grounded in hot and humid Singapore for too long – their engines must be run at least once every few months, and some must be stored in deserts overseas.
According to Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) guidelines, pilots need to perform three take-offs and landings every 90 days for the specific type of aircraft they are licensed to fly. However, pilots may also meet this requirement by using a flight simulator.
Given these, some may argue flights to nowhere kill two birds in one stone by keeping planes and pilots in tip-top shape, while generating profit from travel-starved passengers.
But there’s no denying the spotlight this episode has shone on how flights in general generate unnecessary carbon dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and these flights to nowhere are only a plaster for the structural threats facing SIA and the global aviation industry.
UNNECESSARY EMISSIONS IN A WARMING WORLD
Let’s look at the environmental impact of a flight.
SIA’s flights to nowhere are expected to be two to three hours long. Since the amount of carbon emissions will differ with the type of aircraft used, how wide, new and packed they are, our best guess is to take a composite figure based on an illustrative route.
For example, flying from Singapore to Bangkok takes about 2.5 hours. And the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)’s CO2 calculator provides a figure of 105kg of CO2 per passenger.
File photo of Thai Airways planes parked at the tarmac of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo: REUTERS/Jorge Silva)
But looking at a flight’s carbon footprint only doesn’t take into account the other warming effects air traffic has on the planet. Planes also produce water vapour, aerosols and nitrogen oxides, as well as heat-trapping cirrus clouds.
Non-CO2 aircraft emissions are not well-understood, but a 1999 International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report estimated aviation’s total contribution to global warming to be two to four times higher than that of its carbon emissions alone.
In any case, the amount of CO2 emissions produced by a flight to nowhere works out to about 70 bottles of wine. At least the latter sounds more enjoyable than a cramped economy-class seat – and will go a long way, far longer than two to three hours.
Then again, I’m 1.85m tall and I get tipsy after two glasses, so your mileage may vary.
What isn’t subjective, however, is that reducing unnecessary flights can and must be part of our approach to limit CO2 emissions between now and 2050, if we are to restrict the temperature rise of our planet within 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.
This is the temperature level the world’s nations came together to set in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. And UN Environment’s Emission Gap Report 2019 indicates we have to reduce global GHG emissions from 55 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2-equivalent in 2018 to between 25 and 41 GtCO2e by 2030.
Though COVID-19 has certainly put a dent in global GHG emissions, a May study published in science journal Nature found that global emissions would only fall by 7.5 per cent at most, if current restrictions are maintained until the end of the year.
An artist’s impression of a KL-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) station. (Photo: MyHSR)
Though some level of rebound will happen for the aviation industry, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade association for airlines, forecasted in June that if COVID-19 related restrictions are maintained until the end of the year, it would take another four years for passenger traffic to return to 2019 levels.
Meanwhile, the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur high-speed railway, if and when completed, will be the first stage in an overland high-speed railway network covering most of our ASEAN neighbours.
If the experience in Western Europe and North Asia is instructive – along with the flight shaming movement gaining momentum in Europe – then high-speed rail may overtake short-haul intra-ASEAN flights in the future.
It may be worth SIA and Changi Airport rethinking their response to this long-term challenge, in addition to battling the economic impact of COVID-19 including how Changi Airport Terminal 5 and having two civil airports (Seletar Airport being the other one) fit in.
Could land currently owned by Changi Airport be used to cultivate mangroves instead, to build a coastal defence against soil erosion and rising sea levels? Could SIA be better served focusing on intercontinental routes, even providing through-ticketing to high-speed rail in the future?
At the end of the day, there will still be some demand for flights, especially intercontinental and long-haul flights, when COVID-19 restrictions are eased.
Flying, for many, still represents the freedom from boundaries and the gateway to new experiences and opportunities. Flights to nowhere are also an experience some may crave, and perhaps would utilise planes that would have been flown anyway for maintenance purposes.
But the environmental cost of a flight to nowhere is still outweighed by that of air travel on a whole. There must be long-term green solutions when SIA’s business picks up again.
SilkAir, Singapore Airlines and Scoot planes sit on the tarmac at Changi Airport in Singapore. (Photo: Reuters/Edgar Su)
First, SIA should offset its CO2 and GHG emissions from all its flights ahead of its committed 2021 timeline to join the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme.
British budget carrier EasyJet committed in October 2019 to offset CO2 emissions across its entire flight network. In January, British Airways announced it will offset all emissions of its domestic flights, and Lufthansa also launched CO2-neutral flights for corporate customers travelling within Europe.
SIA can purchase carbon offsets in bulk which adhere to reputable standards such as Gold Standard and Verra, which ensures that carbon-offsetting projects actually achieve the avoidance and reduction of emissions they claim to.
A quick look at the former’s retail website shows carbon credits can be purchased from as low as US$11 per tonne of CO2 from the Climate+ Portfolio composite offset. Given that SIA’s market positioning is in the premium full-service sector, the price of each ticket is unlikely to increase appreciably to customers, even if costs are passed to them.
Balance this against the added brand value of becoming one of the world’s pioneering net-zero airlines, and the benefits start to outweigh the costs.
Carbon offsets may seem like an unnecessary financial burden in tough times, but SIA has received substantial state assistance to help it tide over the COVID-19 crisis.
The Government announced S$750 million of support for the aviation sector in March, and an additional S$187 million later in August. SIA also plans to raise up to S$15 billion through issuing new shares and convertible bonds, with the support of Temasek.
As a recipient of public funds, SIA should consider its social and environmental responsibilities to Singaporeans.
Beyond thinking long-term, SIA should consider greener alternatives to flights to nowhere. A group of young sustainability advocates has launched a #SaveSingaporeAirlines initiative to gather more eco-friendly ideas for SIA to generate business.
Some suggestions include offering dining experiences inside grounded planes, or behind-the-scenes tours into airport and flight operations.
Campaigns such as these reflect that SIA’s future clients are climate-conscious, and that the world, airlines included, is moving towards sustainability. Despite ongoing financial pressures, SIA is still an esteemed national carrier worthy of leading the aviation industry on this march.
Eric Bea is a researcher in environmental law at the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. This article is written in the author’s personal capacity.
