In a decisive move to protect its citizens from escalating online scams, Singapore has issued a directive to tech giants Apple and Google, demanding they take immediate action to prevent the impersonation of government agencies on their messaging platforms. The city-state’s Ministry of Home Affairs announced on Tuesday that both companies must block or filter accounts and group chats that mimic Singapore government agency identities on Apple’s iMessage and Google Messages by the end of November. The ministry emphasized the urgency of implementing measures to deter the abuse of these platforms by scammers. Non-compliance could result in fines of up to one million Singapore dollars ($768,000). Both Apple and Google have reportedly indicated their willingness to comply with the order, which also includes changes to how profile names of unknown senders are displayed. Government agencies have been using the ‘gov.sg’ message ID to verify legitimate communication, but scammers have exploited the lack of safeguards on messaging platforms to deceive the public. Google stated that it is collaborating with the Singapore government to implement pre-emptive measures to prevent the spoofing of government agencies’ names on its messaging platform, reaffirming its commitment to keeping Singaporeans safe online. Apple, however, could not be immediately reached for comment. This directive follows a similar order issued to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to curb scammers impersonating government officials on the social media platform.