ScamShield app helps to block scam calls and SMSes on your phone

Note: This article was first published on 21 Nov 2020.

With the number of scam cases rising in Singapore, authorities have stepped up their efforts to protect consumers. One initiative is the ScamShield app, which is developed by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), Singapore Police Force (SPF), and Open Government Products Team (OGP) at the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech). 

ScamShield helps to block scam calls from a database of blocked numbers, which is managed centrally by the NCPC and SPF. The app also filters scam SMSes with an on-device algorithm and place them in a junk SMS folder. Scam SMSes will be sent to NCPC and SPF for collation. 

ScamShield users also can report scam messages from other instant messaging (IM) apps such as WhatsApp, WeChat, IMO and Viber. However, ScamShield cannot filter spam messages from these IM apps.

For those who are concerned about ScamShield filter SMSes from their family and friends, there is no need to. ScamShield does not filter messages coming from people in the contact list or contacts that they have an existing conversation with. In addition, ScamShield does not have access to the user's location data or any personal data. The filtering of calls or text messages on ScamShield can be disabled anytime in the phone settings. 

ScamShield does not require Wi-Fi or mobile data connectivity to work as it runs in the background. However, it requires a data connection to send details of scam messages and numbers for collation.

The ScamShield app is free to download for iPhone users. An Android version is currently in the works.

Source: ScamShield