SINGAPORE – A new initiative to use only the gov.sg “sender ID” for SMSes from government agencies from July 1 ran into hiccups on the first day after a message from the police got some recipients’ names wrong.
On July 1, an SMS from the police under the “gov.sg” banner was sent out with a warning about the re-emergence of a fake bulk order scam, in which about 60 victims have lost at least $831,000 since April 12.
However, the messages were sent with wrong recipient names because of an “administrative error”, said the police in response to queries.
Despite the wrong names, the anti-scam message sent out was authentic and not fake, the police added. Also, no personal data was compromised.
The police said follow-up messages were sent to those who were originally meant to receive the message, in a bid to clarify the situation. The police did not provide details on how many people were affected by the administrative error.