Singapore - A study commissioned by WhatsApp and 2CV Singapore, a market research agency, has shown that most victims of scammers do not report scams to the relevant authorities.

The study was conducted in September this year and involved 500 Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 18 and above. After receiving scam messages, 71 percent said they dealt with the messages simply by deleting them, while 52 percent said they simply ignored them.

When asked why, two common reasons given were that respondents thought they would never be scammed and that they were "too busy."

The police also issue regular warnings about scams, as does Singapore's National Crime Prevention Council.

When asked which type of scam messages stood out the most, 53 per cent of those in the WhatsApp and 2CV Singapore surveys received messages about investment scams.

Fifty percent of respondents have received phishing scams and 48 percent have received messages about job scams. 45% have received a Courier scam message.

Those who submit actual reports to the relevant departments or platforms are only a minority, only 36%.

In addition, 64 percent of study participants who received scams did not report these situations to the police or the platform from which they received the information, although 72 percent said they blocked the sender.

Gerald Singham, chairman of Singapore's National Crime Prevention Council, stressed the importance of reporting fraud information in an interview, "It is important for the public to report fraud information directly to the platform. By doing so, they are submitting relevant fraud information that will be used to alert companies and government agencies to take early countermeasures against scammers."

Source: FX110