Coinbase helps Singapore police curb crypto scam losses

Coinbase said its work with Singapore's Anti-Scam Centre helped identify potential cryptocurrency scam victims and prevent losses, linking its role to a broader drop in crypto scam losses in Singapore.

Figures from the Singapore Police Force's Anti-Scam Centre show that cryptocurrency scam losses in Singapore fell 43% year on year, from S$114.9 million to S$65.5 million. The centre attributed the decline to stronger enforcement, public education and disruption work with industry partners.

In the first half of the year, the Anti-Scam Centre worked with industry groups on impersonation scams, leading to the takedown of 47,500 mobile lines, 37,500 WhatsApp lines, 31,600 online monikers and 52,200 malicious websites. It also investigated more than 2,900 money mules and scammers and charged about 470 people.

Coinbase's Global Intelligence team took part in four joint operations with the centre, helping identify more than 720 potential scam victims and prevent more than S$18.9 million in potential losses.

Joint operations

Coinbase said its Singapore-based intelligence staff supported information-sharing and intervention work between law enforcement and internal teams. The cooperation formed part of a broader push by authorities to respond more quickly to scam reports and trace suspicious transactions linked to digital assets.

Singapore's Anti-Scam Centre has also created a dedicated Cryptocurrency Tracing Team as part of its response to rising scam activity in the digital asset market. Although losses from cryptocurrency scams declined, scams remained a leading crime category in Singapore, with elderly victims continuing to suffer the highest losses.

Public education

Alongside enforcement work, Coinbase launched its first anti-scam awareness campaign in Singapore for retail account holders. The campaign used email, push notifications and in-app messages to reach local users.

The focus on education reflects a broader pattern in Singapore's anti-scam policy, with authorities and private-sector groups increasingly combining account monitoring, technical disruption and consumer alerts. Impersonation scams remain a major concern, particularly when criminals use messaging platforms, spoofed identities and fraudulent websites to persuade victims to move funds.

Digital asset businesses face growing pressure from regulators and law enforcement agencies in several markets to improve scam detection and cooperate more closely on suspicious activity. In Singapore, that work has become more prominent as scam losses have risen across a range of financial channels in recent years.

Coinbase said the results in Singapore showed the value of coordinated intervention between exchanges and police investigators. It also pointed to targeted alerts for local customers as part of efforts to reduce exposure to common scam tactics.

The Anti-Scam Centre's latest figures suggest that direct disruption of scam infrastructure remains central to the strategy. The removal of tens of thousands of phone lines, online identities and websites points to the scale at which impersonation networks had been operating.

Authorities have also continued to emphasise the role of victims' families, banks, technology platforms and telecoms operators in reporting suspicious activity early. In crypto-related cases, faster tracing and contact with exchanges can be critical because transfers can move quickly across wallets and platforms.