Singaporean authorities are offering their residents an artificial intelligence application capable of detecting online scams by analyzing messages received on their smartphones. Named Anti-Scam Pango, it has just been launched in the city-state, which has six million inhabitants and is at the forefront of new technologies. This free program was designed by the government’s Digital Agency, in collaboration with Google DeepMind teams.
A red alert displayed
Once downloaded and kept permanently active, the app analyzes all messages arriving on conversation platforms, whether SMS or exchanges on WhatsApp and Telegram. When it spots a suspicious phone number or text that resembles the hundreds of thousands of messages used by scammers, a red warning is displayed on the screen. The user can then continue the conversation, or stop it and report the suspicious number to the messaging service.
Online scams are a major problem in Asia. Fraudsters often impersonate friends, proposing an investment project presented as advantageous. Others pose as bank employees, mentioning a problem with a credit card, or as tax agents, or even police officers.
A heavy toll for victims
In the first six months of 2026, Singaporean authorities recorded nearly 17,000 victims of online scams, who lost a total equivalent to 300 million euros. Across Southeast Asia, tens of billions of dollars are stolen each year, according to source information.
The question of confidentiality is central to this system. Singapore’s Digital Agency states that using Anti-Scam Pango poses no problem regarding privacy protection. According to them, the analysis is done directly on the phone, and conversations are not transferred to either a government server or a Google server.
